M%   j^Jj^tj    ii^iiii]  JN]G7C;JN],  LLD,K  £ 

Member  of  tk&  Jaf&  frisk  Farfiawait. 

Pot  tie  Cities  of  Tuani  &  Clogher  . 

:r.  5  laid:  ;ork. 


RISE  AND  FALL 


OF 


THE  IRISH  NATION. 


BY 


SIR  JONAH  BARRINGTON,  LL.D.  K.C. 

Member  in  the  late  Irish  Parliament  for  the  Cities  of  Tuam  and  Clogher 


The  nations  have  fallen,  and  thou  still  art  young, 
Thy  sun  is  but  rising,  when  others  are  set , 

And,  though  slavery's  cloud  o'er  thy  morning  hath  hung, 
The  full  noon  of  freedom  shall  beam  round  them  yet 

Eriu!  oh  Erin,  though  long  in  the  shade, 

Thy  star  will  shin  a  out  when  the  proudest  shall  fade. 

Mou» 


THIKTEENTH  THOUSAND. 

NEW  YORK: 

P.  J.  KENEDY, 

EXCELSIOR  CATHOLIC  PUBLISHING  HOUSE, 

5     BARCLAY     STREET. 
1896. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS, 


\j 


TO 


THE    BARON    PLUNKET 

LORD  CHANCELLOR  OF  IRELAND 


My  dear  Lord, 

Even  whilst  the  twilight  of  h'fe  is  rapidly  descending 
into  that  mysterious  night,  by  which  the  whole  human 
race  must  inevitably  be  enveloped,  there  yet  remains  on« 
gratification,  which,  whilst  intellect  survives,  age  canno 
deprive  us  of,  the  recollection  of  past  pleasures. 

To  me  none  afford  more  happy  recollections  than  the 
splendid  days  of  my  variegated  life,  spent  in  the  society 
of  those  great  and  gifted  characters,  who  once  adorned 
that  talented  and  happy  island,  we  were  then  proud  to 
call  the  place  of  our  nativity. 

From  that  society  all  distinctions  of  party  were  ba- 
nished, and  politics  were  forgotten ;  all  merged  in  the 
general  glow  of  private  friendship ;  there  were  no  con- 
tests save  those  of  wit,  no  emulation  but  in  the  animated 
sallies  of  classic  conviviality,  there  your  talents  were  con- 
spicuous, and  your  elevation  was  predicted.  In  those 
societies  our  intimacy  commenced,  and  generated  a 
Ciendship,  from  which  my  heart  and  my  actions  have 
uever  for  one  moment  deviated. 


IV  DEDI'.ATION. 

No  man  knew  me  betfer  than  your  Lordship,  no  man 
knows  better  the  sacrifices  I  made  to  uphold  our  country 
Once  I  was  formidable  to  its  enemies ;  but  I  have  a>s! 
my  sting,  and  it  required  the  strength  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary philosophy  to  bear  up  against  that  overwhelming 
weight  of  injustice,  illegality,  haughty  and  irresistible 
oppression,  which,  through  unconstitutional  proceedings, 
and  for  a  palpably  corrupt  purpose,  were  heaped  upon 
one  of  the  oldest  and  most  proven  friends  of  the  British 
Monarchy.  I  trust,  however,  to  the  justice  and  liberality 
of  a  reformed  representation  to  afford  me  a  full  oppor- 
tunity of  bringing  before  their  eyes,  that  unprecedented 
scene  of  injustice,  and  of  convincing  the  Empire,  that 
real  culprits,  of  the  higher  orders,  were  at  the  same 
moment,  not  only  screened,  but  elevated. 

On  the  most  important  subject  that  ever  agitated  (and 
has  not  ceased  to  agitate)  the  British  Empire,  our  sen- 
timents, my  Lord,  were  congenial :  we  fought  side  by 
side  in  the  cause  of  Ireland,  upon  that  vital  point  I 
yielded  my  warmest  friends,  and  acquired  most  inveterate 
enemies,  you  broke  from  no  connexion,  talent,  patriotism, 
eloquence  and  integrity  stamped  your  character ;  I  feel, 
therefore,  that,  as  the  intimate  of  my  society,  the  comrade 
of  my  battles,  and,  I  believe,  the  friend  of  my  declining 
years,  I  should  pay  to  you  this  tribute  of  regard,  by  pre- 
senting to  you  a  volume,  which  fills  up  the  chasm  of 
events  for  twenty  of  the  most  momentous  years  of  Irish 
History ;  and,  if  God  gives  me  health  to  complete  what 
I  am  undertaking,  the  reigns  of  the  seven  Viceroys 
which  have  succeeded  the  Union  shall  be  given  ro  the 
public,  as  an  irrefragable  proof  of  the  truth  of  the  predic- 
tions, which,  in  1800,  were  urged  in  vain  against  the 
adoption  of  that  disastrous  measure. 

As  some  novel  points  of  view  in  which  I  have  in  this 
volume  placed  the  present  state  of  the  Un'm  question, 


DEDICATION.  f 

spring  solely  from  myself,  they  are  only  to  be  cons  idered 
as  the  isolated  opinion  of  a  worn-out  public  mar. ;  full 
perhaps  of  those  national  prejudices,  which  are  insepara- 
ble from  his  nature,  but  excusable  when  they  are  genu- 
ine, and  founded  on  the  purest  principles  of  equity  and 
constitution. 

One  of  the  proudest  days  of  my  life  was  that  when,  a 
candidate  for  the  Metropolis  of  Ireland,  the  five  first 
names  found  on  my  tally,  were  those  of  the  Grattan,  G. 
Ponsonby,  Plunket,  Curran,  and  Ball;  you,  my  Lord, 
are  the  only  survivor  of  that  illustrious  group,  who  has 
lived  to  see  the  fulfilment  of  their  prophecies,  and  in  that 
point  of  view,  I  feel  that  not  only  my  private  friendship, 
but  almost  public  duty,  commands  me  to  present  to  you 
a  worK,  which,  whilst  narrating  the  glorious,  but  unsuc- 
cessful struggles  of  our  common  country,  for  its  Inde- 
pendence, offers  a  feeble  and  melancholy  tribute  to  the 
patriotism  of  those  illustrious  characters,  whose  memory 
will  ever  be  revered  by  a  generous  and  grateful  people. 
Believe  me,  my  dear  Lord,  to  be, 
With  the  utmost  sincerity, 
Yours  most  faithfully, 

JONAH  BARRINGTOM. 


tflftfc 


POFATORY   OBSERVATIONS. 


More  than  thirty  summers  have  now  passed  by,  sinc€ 
that  disastrous  measure,  called  a  "legislative  Union* 
extinguished  at  one  blow,  the  pride,  the  prosperity,  and 
the  Independence  of  the  Irish  Nation. 

A  measure  which,  under  the  false  colours  of  guarding 
for  ever  against  a  disunion  of  the  Empire,  has  taken  the 
longest  and  surest  stride  to  lead  it  to  dismemberment. 

A  measure  which,  instead  of  "consolidating  th$ 
strength  and  resource  of  the  Empire"  as  treacherously 
expressed  from  the  Throne  of  the  Viceroy,  has,  through 
its  morbid  operation,  paralyzed  the  resources  of  Ireland ; 
whilst  England  is  exhausting  her  own  strength,  squan- 
dering her  own  treasures,  and  clipping  her  own  constitu- 
tion, to  uphold  a  measure,  efl&cteA  by  corruption,  and 
maintained  by  oppression. 

A  measure  which,  pretending  to  tranquillize,  has  in  fact 
excited  more  hostile,  and  I  fear,  interminable  disgust, 
than  had  ever  before  existed  between  the  two  nations, 
and  has  banished  from  both,  that  mutual  and  invigorating 
attachment,  which  was  daily  augmenting,  under  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  federative  connexion. 

The  protecting  body  of  the  country  gentlemen  have 
evacuated  Ireland,  and  in  their  stead,  we  now  find  official 
clerks,  griping  agents,  haughty  functionaries,  and  proud 
Clergy ;  the  resident  Aristocracy  of  Ireland,  if  not  quite 
extinguished,  is  hourly  diminishing ;  and  it  is  a  political 
truism,  that  the  coexistence  of  an  oligarchy,  without  a 


Vlll  PREFATORY     OBSERVATIONS. 

cabinet,  a  resident  executive,  and  an  absent  legislation 
tenants  without  landlords,  and  magistrates  without  lega 
knowledge,  must  be,  from  its  nature,  a  form  of  constitu* 
tion  at  once  incongruous,  inefficient,  and  dangerous. 
The  present  is  a  state  which  cannot  exist ;  it  is  a  strug- 
gle, that  cannot  continue,  there  is  "a  tide"  in  the  affairs 
of  Empires,  as  well  as  of  individuals ;  every  fever  has  a 
crisis :  Ireland  is  in  one  now,  I  am  no  fanatic,  I  am  the 
partisan  only  of  tranquillity,  in  the  country  where  I  drew 
my  first  breath. 

The  people  of  England,  and  also  of  some  continental 
kingdoms,  are  fully  aware  of  the  distracted  state  of  Ire- 
land, but  are  at  a  loss  to  account  for  it ;  it  is  now  how- 
ever in  proofj  that  thirty-three  years  of  Union  have  been 
thirty-three  years  of  beggary  and  disturbance,  and  this 
result,  I  may  fairly  say,  I  always  foresaw. 

And  when  my  humble  sentiments  as  to  the  suscepti- 
bility of  Ireland,  and  the  misrule  that  seems  entailed  on 
her  generations,  have  the  honor  of  coinciding  with  those 
of  the  highest  authority  in  England,  on  that  subject,  I 
feel  myself  invincible  in  the  position,  that  "If  Ireland 
was  well  governed  she  would  be  the  brightest  jewel  in 
i  he  King's  Crown.  The  proof  that  the  people  are  not  bad 
is  that  during  two  rebellions  in  1715  and  1745  that  raged 
in  Scotland  and  England,  the  Irish  people  were  quite 
quiet.  But  she  has  been  badly  governed,  and  has  not 
and  does  not  improve  with  the  rest  of  the  Empire." 

In  fact  the  world  has  now  become  not  only  enlighten 
ed,  but  illuminated,  by  the  progress  of  political  informa- 
tion ;  and  it  is  clear  as  day  that  there  are  but  two  ways, 
through  which  eight  millions  of  Irish  population  can  evei 
be  governed  with  security :  either  through  tne  re-enjoy- 
ment of  her  own  constitution,  and  voluntary  affection  to 
her  rulers,  or  by  physical  force  of  arms,  and  the  tempo- 
raiy  right  of  conquest,  the  former  even  now  requires  only 


PREFATORY     OBSERVATIONS.  HI 

the  will  of  England,  and  the  word  reconciliation ;  but 
both  ancient  and  modern  examples  fully  prove,  that  the 
whole  physical  force  and  power  of  Great  Britain  might 
find  itself  dangerously  deceived  in  trying  to  establish  by 
the  sword,  a  system  so  repugnant  to  the  very  nature  of 
the  English  people. 

During  the  short  reign  of  Earl  Fitzwilliam  with  a  resi- 
dent legislature,  five  thousand  men  were  sufficient  to 
garrison  every  spot  of  Ireland,  under  the  protracted  reign 
of  the  present  Viceroy,  more  than  thirty  thousand  sol- 
diers are  found  necessary,  to  enforce  obedience  even  to  a 
single  statute  of  the  Imperial  legislature. 

These  are  proofs  and  matters  of  fact,  they  carry  con- 
viction to  the  reason  of  every  man  susceptible  of  convic- 
tion, and  of  every  party  not  hurried  away  by  prejudice, 
and  great  Britain  herself  must  now  perceive  that  above 
a  third  of  her  military  are  employed  in  Ireland,  by  her 
minister,  to  keep  down  the  exuberant  spirit  of  that  people, 
and  that  army  paid  out  of  the  English  purse,  by  taxes 
levied  on  the  English  people,  is  solely  maintained  to 
extinguish  that  very  spirit  which  they  have  themselves 
so  triumphantly  exercised  to  obtain  a  reform  of  their  own 
corrupt  legislature. 

The  subjects  of  this  volume,  and  some  novel  sugges- 
tions and  doctrines  it  embodies,  will  of  course  excite 
many  different  opinions,  as  to  the  object  of  its  author,  in 
producing  such  a  work,  at  so  critical  an  epocha  of  the 
British  Empire.  I  therefore  hesitate  not  a  moment  in 
avowing  my  reasons;  they  are  just,  true,  and  con- 
ciliatory ;  one  is  to  dispel  that  profound  ignorance  of  the 
real  state  of  Ireland,  its  claims  and  its  deprivations, 
which  appears  to  have  pervaded  every  class  of  the 
British  people,  and  in  which  lack  of  information,  so  great 
a  proportion  even  of  the  present  Parliament  appears  to 
participate. 


I  PREFATORY     OBSERVATIONS. 

But  al>ove  all  to  convince  the  British  people,  that  the) 
are  the  very  worst  friends  of  the  connexion,  who  raise  up 
a  "repeal  of  the  Union"  as  a  sprite  to  terrify  the  English 
people,  into  a  false  belief  that  it  would  be  only  a  certain 
prelude  to  a  separation  of  the  countries. 

Never  yet  was  a  more  mischievous  or  false  position 
forced  on  the  credulity  of  an  uninformed  people  ;  whoever 
reads  this  volume  will  detect  that  falsehood ;  there  they 
will  find,  by  comparing  times  and  incidents,  that,  so  far 
from  a  resident  legislature  being  a  ground  of  separation, 
it  was  the  knot  that  indissolubly  united  them,  whilst  the 
increasing  miseries  of  Ireland,  arising  from  this  Union, 
are  only  the  prelude  to  a  convulsive  separation  of  the  two 
countries. 

In  the  body  of  this  volume  (page  391,)  I  have  given 
my  suggestion  as  to  the  term  "  Repeal  of  the  Union n 
and  my  opinion,  that  no  power  of  the  Irish  representa- 
.ives  or  trustees,  could  enact  a  line  of  it,  that  as  a  consti- 
utional  measure,  it  is  a  nullity  unqualified,  and  that  no 
such  Union  dejure,  is  at  present  in  existence. 

I  must  here  observe  in  reply  to  the  ingenious  verbiage 
of  my  able  friend  Baron  Smith  of  the  Irish  Exchequer 
Bench,  that  of  all  the  feeble  attempts  to  uphold  the  affir- 
mative of  that  untenable  position,  his  alone  is  worthy  of 
the  most  trivial  animadversion. 

When  simply  a  member  of  the  extinguished  legisla- 
ture, he  might,  like  many  others,  have  supported  that 
vicious  doctrine  for  his  temporary  purposes ;  but  it  is  to 
be  lamented,  that  being  a  judge  he  still  supports  the  same 
doctrine,  as  to  the  competence  of  Parliament,  though  so 
distinctly  and  palpably  repugnant  to  the  eternal  principles 
of  Justice,  and  Equity,  which  form  the  very  essence,  and 
the  practice  of  his  jurisdiction. 

It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  such  pertinacious  retention 
of  that  doctrine,  save  through  a  supposition,  that  the 


PREFATORY    OBSERVATIONS.  XI 

•ubtlety  of  sophistry  and  metaphysics,  have  suggested  to 
his  fancy,  some  imaginary  distinction  between  that  equity 
to  which  private  property,  and  public  right,  have  been 
invariably  and  equally  entitled ;  and  that  an  individual 
may  be  entitled  to  a  justice,  which  a  people  can  be 
deprived  of;  and  a  constitution  betrayed  by  the  very 
trustees,  who  were  delegated  for  its  protection. 

The  case  of  England  and  Ireland  is  not  merely  a 
question  of  law,  or  even  simply  of  constitution ;  it  is  a 
question  actually  embracing  the  law  of  nations,  com- 
mercial treaties  existed  between  them  as  independent 
countries,  and  Ireland  enjoyed  for  eighteen  years  all  the 
rights  which  the  law  of  nations  confers  on  independent 
states. 

The  difficulties  of  dissolving  the  union  are  exaggera- 
ted, the  situation  of  both  countries  presented  far  greater 
obstacles  for  their  arrangement  in  1782,  than  are  at  this 
moment  existing. 

England  at  that  period  had  usurped  a  dominion  over 

the  Irish  legislature ;  policy  and  justice,  called  on  her  to 

relinquish  that  dominion ;  she  obeyed  the  call,  and  the 

epeal  of  her  own  statute  (sixth  George  I.)  by  inference 

Admitted  the  usurpation  of  centuries. 

Still  the  power  of  re-enactment  remained;  Ireland 
claimed  a  statutable  renunciation  of  such  a  power,  and 
a  guarantee  for  the  entire  and  unqualified  Independence 
of  the  Irish  legislature,  and  realm,  for  ever. 

England  saw,  and  admitted,  the  policy  and  justice  of 
the  demand ;  she  again  obeyed  the  call,  and  voluntarily 
did  guarantee  for  ever,  the  independence  and  integrity 
of  Ireland. 

The  experiment  succeeded,  and  both  countries  pros- 
pered. The  Union  was  enacted,  and  both  countries  feel 
the  ruin  of  it 

England,  therefore,  has  only  to  act  upon  the  very  same 


Kit  PREFATORY     OBSERVATIONS. 

principle  of  honour,  policy,  and  justice,  as  in  1782,  and 
follow  her  former  precedent,  which  conferred  such  bene- 
fits on  both — Ireland  has  nothing  to  repeal ;  her  Parlia- 
ment was  incompetent,  and  her  statute  was  a  nuMity. 
The  English  Act  of  Union  was  a  statute  de  jure,  and 
may  be  renounced  as  in  1782. 

1  cannot  terminate  these  observatioxiS,  without  exp.  ess* 
ing  how  much  the  arrangement  and  the  correetne^  of 
this  volume,  owe  to  the  research,  and  revision,  of  my 
zealous  and  talented  friend,  Doctor  Halliday  oi  rxris. 
That  congeniality  of  sentiment  which  geneiattsti  aui 
mutual  friendship,  excited  that  exertion,  and  g;ves  iu< 
the  pleasing  opportunity,  of  saying,  how  much  my  catena 
has  been  encreased,  by  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  hit 
mind  and  of  his  principles. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Ireland  at  an  early  period — Misgoverment  and  oppression  of  England- 
Irish  statistics — Climate — Geographical  advantages — Internal  resour- 
ces— Population — Her  depressed  condition  in  1779 — Causes  of  it— 
Poyning's  law — Usurpation  by  England  to  bind  Ireland  by  British 
Statutes — The  Penal  Statutes  against  Catholics — Fatal  consequence* 
to  Ireland — Ireland  roused  by  the  example  of  America —Success  of 
America — Its  Effect  on  the  Irish  people — Origin  of  the  Irish  Volun- 
teers— Character  of  Ix>rd  Clare — His  intolerance — His  political  incon- 
sistency— His  fall,        -  -  •  -  -  p.  23 

CHAPTER  II. 

State  of  the  Irish  Parliament  previous  to  1779 — Previous  to  1780,  occa- 
sional contests  arose  in  the  Irish  Parliaments — The  absentees — The 
Irish  Bar—  Its  influence  and  Independence — IV Ir.  Burgh  Prime-Ser- 
geant— The  Attorney-general — France  assists  America  against  Eng- 
land— France  the  champion  of  Liberty  ;  England  of  Slavery — France 
threatens  to  invade  Ireland — England  prostrate  and  incapable  of  assist- 
ing Ireland — Moderation  and  patriotism  of  the  Catholics — Character 
of  the  Irish  people  misrepresented  and  misunderstood  in  England — 
Irish  character  defamed  by  English  writers — Character  of  the  Irish 
peasant — Their  undaunted  courage — Attachment  to  their  country — 
The  Gentry — Romantic  Chivalry  of  the  Irish  gentry — Suicide  unknown 
in  Ireland — Irish  Peerage — Protestant  Clergy — Catholic  Clergy — Their 
conduct  and  manners,  -  -  -  -  p.  37 

CHAPTER  III. 

Ireland  awakened  to  a  sense  of  her  slavery — The  Irish  Parliament  to- 
tally independent  of  England — The  King  acknowledged  in  Ireland 
through  his  Irish  crown,  and  not  through  the  crown  of  England — Per- 
ilous position  of  England — Moderation  and  attachment  of  Ireland- 
Ireland  determined  to  demand  her  just  lights — Conspiracy  against  tha 
manufactures  of  Ireland — The  non-consumption  agreement  adopted 
throughout  all  Ireland — Progress  of  the  Volunteers — Their  principal 
Leaders — Sir  John  Parnell — His  character — General  effects  of  volun- 
teering upon  the  people  of  Ireland,         .  -  -  p.  ft? 

2 


CONTENT*. 


CHAPTER  IV 


Unexpected  events  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons— Mr  Grattan* 
Amendment  to  the  Address — His  public  character  and  vicissitudes — ■ 
The  Amendment — Its  effects — Sir  Henry  Cavendish — His  character — 
Mr.  Hussey  Burgh  (the  Prime-Sergeant)  secedes  from  Government 
and  substitutes  an  Amendment  for  Mr.  Grattan's — the  Amendment 
passed — First  step  towards  Irish  independence — The  English  Parlia- 
ment callous  to  the  wrongs  of  Ireland — Lord  Shelburne  and  Lord 
Ossory  propose  resolutions — The  Irish  nation  determined  to  assert  lti 
rights — Resolution  for  a  free  trade  carried  unanimously — This  circum- 
stance one  of  the  remote  causes  of  the  Union — Rapid  progress  of  the 
Volunteers — Extraordinary  military  honours  paid  to  the  Duke  of 
Leinster — Attempts  to  seduce  the  Volunteers — Earl  of  Charlemont — 
His  character,  .  .  -  -  .  p.  71 

CHAPTER  V. 

Spirit  of  the  Irish  and  humiliation  of  the  English  Government — Prepara- 
tion for  hostilities — Lord  North's  embarrassment — King's  conciliatory 
speech  and  the  consequent  proceedings — Duplicity  of  Ministers — The 
people  alarmed — Volunteer  Organization  proceeds — Mutiny  Bill — 
Alarming  rencontre  of  the  Volunteers  and  Regular  Army — Intolerance 
of  England — Further  Grievances  of  Ireland — Proceedings  in  the  Irish 
Parliament — O'Neill  of  Shane's  Castle — His  character  and  influence 
— Address  to  the  Volunteers — Its  results,  -  -  p.  90 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Observations  as  to  the  strength  of  a  people — German  mercenaries — Fur- 
ther subject  of  discontent  in  Ireland — Dispute  between  Ireland  and 
Portugal — Portugal  encouraged  in  her  hostility  towards  Ireland  by  the 
British  Minister — Perseverance  of  Portugal — Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  motion 
— Sir  Lucius  O'Brien — Proposes  that  Ireland  in  her  own  right  should 
declare  war  against  Portugal — Sir  J.  Blaquiere — Effects  of  Sir  Lucim 
O'Brien's  amendment — Distinctness  of  Ireland  proved — Federative 
compact — Arguments  for  and  against  prompt  proceedings — Spirited 
reasoning  of  the  Irish — No  Habeas  Corpus  Act  in  Ireland — Determi 
nation  of  the  Volunteers — Origin  and  progress  of  delegated  assemblies 
— The  Northern  Irish — Dungannon  meeting — Mr.  Dobbs — Extraordi* 
nary  mind — His  eccentricity — Theories — Colonel  Irwin — Account  ol 
the  Dungannon  meeting  continued — Dungannon  resolutions,      p.  104 

CHAPTER  VII 

The  Earl  of  Bristol,  Bishop  of  Deny,  declares  for  Irish  Independence— 
Sketch  of  his  character — Resistance  to  English  Laws  unanimously 
decided  on — Declaration  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  disclaiming  all  Bri- 
tish authority— The  Irish  Judges  dependent  on  the  English  Govern 
ment — Numerical  force  of  the  Irish  Volunteers — Dissenting  Clergy* 
n— Their  Leaders — State  of  the  Irish  Parliament— Members  divi 
ded  into  Classes — The  leading  members — Mr.  Thomas  Connolly —Mr 
Yelverton— His  character,       -  *  -  •  p.  121 


^^       tisl 


CONTENTS.  XT 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Hie  alarm  in  England  increases — The  Earl  of  Carlisle  recalled — Thi 
Duke  of  Portland  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant — Duke  of  Portland'! 
character — He  attempts  to  procrastinate — Remarks  on  the  policy  o! 
an  Union  at  that  juncture — Mr.  Grattan  refuses  to  delay  his  proceed- 
ings— Especial  call  of  the  house — Comparison  of  the  English  and 
Irish  Houses  of  Parliament — Character  of  Mr.  Sexton  Perry — Enibar- 
*assment  of  the  Patriots — Mr.  Hutchinson  Secretary  of  State,  unex- 
pectedly declares  the  assent  of  Government — Mr.  Ponsonby  moves 
an  address  considered  insufficient — Dangerous  dilemma  of  Parlia- 
ment, ......  p.  142 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Mr.  Grattan  moves  a  declaration  of  rights  and  grievances  in  Parliament 
— Mr.  Brownlow — Mr.  George  Ponsonby — Mr.  Flood — Mr.  Fitzgib- 
bon's  conduct — His  Declaration  of  Independence — Enthusiastic  re- 
joicings,       -  -  -  -  -  -  p  160 

CHAPTER  X. 

Design  of  the  British  Goverment  to  recall  the  independence  of  Ireland — 
Singular  conduct  of  the  Attorney  General — His  speech — Its  powerful 
effect — Palpab.e  Irsad  of  an  Insurrection — Effect  on  England — Duke 
of  Portland's  dupJcity — Attains  an  ascendency  over  Earl  Charlemont 
—Embarrassment  of  the  English  Cabinet — The  Volunteers  prepare  fof 
actual  service — Imbecility  of  England — Insidious  designs  of  the  Eng- 
lish Government — Mr.  Fox — Mr.  Pitt — Important  meeting  of  Parlia- 
ment— The  Volunteer  Regiments  occupy  the  avenues  to  the  House  of 
Commons — Designs  of  the  Duke  of  Portland — Duke  of  Portland's 
speech  —  Mr.  Grattan  —  Mr.  Brownlow — The  Recorder  and  Mr 
Walshe  oppose  Mr.  Grattan's  address  —  Mr.  Flood  neutral — Mr. 
Walshe — Mr.  Yelverton — The  Secretar  - — Division — Consequent  em- 
barrassment, -  -  -  p.  176 

CHAPTER  XI 

Temporary  credulity  of  the  Irish  Parliament — Country  Gentlemen- 
Singular  character  of  Mr.  Bagenal — His  Exploits — Popularity — Hii 
patriotism — Commanded  many  Volunteer  Corps — Gives  notice  of  a 
motion  to  reward  Mr.  Grattan  —  Anti-prophetic  observation — Mr. 
Grattan's  increasing  popularity — Hasty  repeal  of  the  declaratory  act 
6th  Geo.  III. — And  transmitted  by  the  Viceroy  to  the  Volunteers— 
Doctrine  of  Blackstone  declared  unconstitutional — Mr.  Bagenal's  motion 
to  grant  <£  100,000,  to  Mr.  Grattan— Mistaken  pride  of  his  friends- 
Extraordinary  occurrence — Insidious  conduct  of  Government — Mr. 
Thomas  Connolly  makes  a  most  unprecedented  motion — Viceroy  offers 
the  Palace  to  Mr.  Grattan  and  his  heirs  as  a  reward  for  his  services—' 
Objects  of  the  Government  in  making  the  offer — Discovered  by  the 
indiscretion  of  the  Secretary,  Col.  Fitzpatrick — His  character — Real 
•bjecta  developed — Mr.  Grattan's  friends  dt  line  so  large  a  grant— 


XTl  CONTENTS 

Then  mistaken  principle — Effects  of  the  calumn  es  against  Ireland- 
False  arguments — Comparison  of  the  conduct  pf  England  and  Ire- 
land— Comparative  loyalty,     -  .  -  -  -  p.  19€ 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Epitome  of  Irish  History — Treacherous  system  of  the  English  Govern  • 
ment — First  Irish  Union — Second  Union  compared  with  the  first- 
King  Henry's  Acts  in  Ireland — His  plan  to  decimate  the  nation — He 
relinquished  his  dominion  over  Ireland — Abortive  attempts  to  colonize 
—Totally  failed,  ....  p.  202 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Ireland  kept  in  a  state  of  oppression  and  turbulence — Elizabeth  becomes 
Queen  —  Character  public  and  private  of  Queen  Elizabeth — Henry 
the  VIII. — Fanaticism  of  the  English — True  principles  of  tolerance- - 
Union  of  religion  and  political  fanaticism — Religious  schisms  excited 
through  Luther — Violent  dissensions — The  Irish  roused — Cruel  tyran- 
ny of  Elizabeth — Earl  of  Tyrone  excites  the  Irish— Extract  from  his 
speech — General  rising  of  the  Irish  and  old  English  colonists — Im- 
mense slaughter — Confiscation  of  whole  provinces  to  Elizabeth — Ac- 
cession of  James  the  First — Comparison  with  Elizabeth — His  wise 
maxims — Conciliatory  principles— Its  full  success— ^-Charles  the  First- 
Disloyalty  of  the  English — Ireland  desolated  by  Cromwell,        p.  207 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

Restoration  of  the  Stuart  dynasty — Usurpation  of  William — Ireland 
remained  loyal — Comparison  of  the  people — The  revolutionary  prin- 
ciple undefined — The  Irish  treated  as  rebels  by  William  for  their  lo}'- 
alty  to  their  King — Character  of  William  the  Third — Contiuued  o\ 
pression  and  malgovernmeni  of  Ireland — The  Scotch  and  Englisl 
rebelled — Ireland  remained  tranquil — Comparison  of  the  English  am 
Irish  as  to  their  kings — Ireland  first  infected  by  the  Scotch  and  English 
rebellions — Mr.  Pitt  suppressed  the  spirit  of  insurrection  in  England 
promptly — Suffered  it  to  increase  in  Ireland,  -  -    p.  219 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Catholic  relaxation  Bills  opposed  by  Mr.  Rowley — Sir  Edward  Newen- 
enham — Doctor  Patrick  Duigenam — His  Character — Mr.  Ogle — Bills 
passed — Unjust  doctrine — Change  in  the  Irish  Parliament — Mr.  Fox's 
candour — His  speech — Deception  of  the  British  Government  devel- 
oped—  Marquis  of  Rockingham — Total  absence  of  energy — Mr. 
Burke — Inactive  as  to  Ireland — New  debates — Embarrassing  conse- 
quences of  Mr.  Grattan's  address — Mr.  Grattan's  motion  objectionable 
— Mr.  Flood's  reply — Unfortunate  collision  of  Grattan  and  Flood — 
Mr.  Grattan's  falla'cious  motion— Mr.  Flood's  reply — Mr.  Montgo- 
mery moves  to  build  an  Irish  navy — Negatived — Parliament  pio- 
rogued — Most  important  session — Moderation  of  Ireland — Duke  ol 
Portland's  hypocritical  speech,         -  •  -  -    p  23C 


CONTENTS.  XV* 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


Insufficiency  ot  Mr.  Grattan's  measures — Death  of  he  Marquis  oi 
Rockingham  and  its  consequences — Earl  Temple  Lord  Lieutenant — 
Mr.  Grenville  Secretary — His  Character — Lord  Temple — Not  unpop- 
ular— Mr.  Corry  a  principal  instrument  of  Lord  Temple — Proceedingi 
of  the  Volunteers — Strong  resolutions  to  oppose  English  Laws — Bad 
effects  of  the  dissension  between  Grattan  and  Flood — Sir  Georga 
Voung — Effect  of  Sir  George  Young's  speech — Lord  Mansfield's  con- 
duct accounted  for — Consequence  ol  these  speeches — British  Parlia- 
ment belie  their  own  Act — Lord  Abingdon  denies  the  King's  right  to 
pass  the  Bill — England  by  Statute  admitted  her  usurpation,  and  relin- 
quished for  ever  her  right  to  legislate  for  Ireland — Renunciation  Act 
— Mr.  Grattan  still  perversely  opposes  Mr.  Flood — The  renunciation 
Act  confirmed  Mr.  Flood's  doctrine,  p.  245 

CHAPTER  XVII 

Lord  Charlemont's  courtly  propensities — Comparison  of  Grattan  and 
Flood — Consequences  of  their  jealousy  to  the  country — The  people 
enlightened,  learn  the  true  state  of  their  situation — Discussion — And 
Arguments — Inefficiency  of  the  measures  as  a  future  security — A 
Reform  of  Parliament  indispensable  to  public  security — Mr.  Pitt — Hia 
duplicity  and  corruption — Constitutional  reasons  for  a  Reform  of  Par- 
liament— Deduction — Conclusion  drawn  by  the  Volunteers — Proved 
by  incontrovertible  fact — State  of  Electors  and  Representatives  com- 
pared— Mr.  Curran — His  character,      -  -  -  p.  26 1 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

Volunteers  received  by  the  King  —Happy  state  of  Ireland — Progressive- 
ly prosperous — Untoward  consequences  of  the  collision  between  Flood 
and  Grattan — A  second  Dungannon  meeting  of  delegated  Volunteers — ■ 
Mr.  Flood  gains  ground — Arguments — A  National  Convention  decided 
on — Their  first  meeting  —  Interesting  procession  of  the  Delegates 
described — Entrance  of  the  Delegates — Extraordinary  coincidence  oi 
localities — Embarrassing  situation — The  Delegates  meet  at  the  Ro- 
tunda, ......  p.  276 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

Hie  Bishop  of  Derry  takes  his  seat  at  the  Convention — His  splendour— 
And  pageantry — Procession — Popularity — Extraordinary  Visit  to  the 
House  of  Lords — A  Guard  of  Honour  mounted  at  his  house — Entire- 
ly devuted  to  the  Irish  people — His  great  qualities  and  acquirements — 
Opposes  Charlemont  and  Grattan — First  treacherous  Scheme  of  the 
British  Government  again  to  enslave  Ireland — The  spirit  of  the  Irish 
Parliament  declines — Reasons  for  Reform  in  Parliament — Absolutely 
essential  to  her  prosperity — Further  traits  of  Lord  Charlemont's  Char- 
acter— His  inefficiency — His  views — Opposes  the  Bishop  of  Derry's 
Election  for  the  Presidency  of  the  National  Convention — Many  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament  attend  the  Convention  also — Earl   Charlemont'? 

2* 


BYiii  CONTENT* 

dilemma — Proceedings  of  the  Convention-— The  Bishop  and  Ml 
Flood  acquired  the  ascendency — The  Parliament  and  Convention- 
Desperate  step  of  Government — Fitzgibboif  s  Philippic — Most  violent 
Debates — Bill  rejected — Extraordinary  coincidence  of  facts — JVIr.  Con- 
nolly's motion — Feeble  and  insidious  resolution  of  Lord  Charlemont — 
Fatal  adjournment — Called  a  meeting  of  his  partisans — Breaks  hit 
trust — Inexcusable  conduct — False  statement — Virtually  dissolves  the 
Convention  before  the  full  meeting — Lord  Charlemont  justly  reproba- 
ted— Volunteers  beat  to  arms — Lord  Charlemont's  intolerance — Op- 
posed by  the  Bishop  of  Derry,  p.  289 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Celebrated  Address  of  the  Volunteers  to  the  Bishop — Reply  of  the 
Bishop — Some  thought  the  Bishop's  answer  too  strong — A  new  Bill 
tuggested — New  measures  of  Earl  Charlemont — Decline  of  the  Vol- 
unteers— Insincerity  of  the  concessions — Cupidity  of  English  trader! 
— Sordid  interest  absorbed  her  justice — Commercial  treaty  and  tariff 
proposed — Commercial  propositions — Mr.  Pitt's  duplicity — Magnifi- 
cence of  the  Irish  Court — The  Propositions  rejected — Mr.  Brownlow 
opposes  the  eleven  propositions — Passed  the  Commons — Mr.  Pitt 
proposes  twenty  propositions — Embarrassment  of  the  Secretary  — 
Most  violent  debates  in  the  Irish  Parliament — The  Minister  virtually 
defeated — The  treaty  ended — Defeat  of  the  treaty  effected  by  the  coun- 
try gentlemen — Mr.  Forbes  a  leading  member  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons— Mr  Hardy — Mr  Carleton,  Solicitor  General — His  singular 
character,      -  •  -  -  -  p.  305 

CHAPTER  XXI 

Death  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland — Marquis  of  Buckingham's  second  Gov- 
ernment— The  question  of  a  Regency — Mr.  Pitt's  conduct — The 
Prince  submitted  to  the  restraints — The  Irish  resisted,  and  refused  to 
restrain  him — Unprecedented  case — Collision  between  the  two  Parlia- 
ments^— Round  Robin — Irish  address  to  the  Prince — Sketch  of  the 
Arguments  on  the  Regency  question  in  Ireland — Constitutional  state 
of  both  nations — Conduct  of  the  nations  contrasted — Reasons  for  the 
Irish  Parliament  proceeding  by  Address,  and  not  by  Statute,  to  appoint 
•  Regent — Question  whether  the  Parliaments  of  England  or  Ireland 
had  committed  a  breach  of  the  Constitution — Threats  of  the  Viceroy— 
The  Round  Robin — Viceroy  determined  to  retire — Reception  of  the 
Irish  delegates  by  the  Prince — Address  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  the 
Prince — Reply  of  the  Prince,  eulogizing  the  Irish  legislature — After- 
wards neglected,  -  -  -  -  -  p  319 

CHAPTER  XXII 

Ireland  acted  on  her  independence — Prosperous  state  of  Ireland  at  thai 
Period — The  Rise  of  the  Irish  Nation  consummated  by  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Viceroy — Particularly  important  observation — Lord  Westmore- 
lani — Major  Hobart — His  character — State  of  Ireland  on  his  accession 
to  office — Concessions  by  Government — Delusion  and  negligence  of  Uif 


CONTENTS.  llB 

Oppr»jtion — Catholic  emancipation  commenced — Arguments  of  th» 
Catholics — Catholic  petition  rejected  by  a  great  majority — Deep  de« 
signs  of  Mr.  Pitt — Mr.  Pitt  proceeds  with  his  measures  to  promote  a 
union — Lord  Fitzwilliam  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant — His  character — 
Deceived  and  calumniated  by  Mr.  Pitt — Great  popularity  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant — Earl  Fitzwilliam  recalled — Fatal  consequences — Ireland 
given  up  to  Lord  Clare,  and  insurrection  excited — Lord  Camden — Uni- 
ted Irishmen — Unprecedented  Organization — Lord  Camden's  charactei 
— Despotic  conduct  of  Lord  Clare — Earl  Carhampton  commander-in- 
chief — Disobeys  Lord  Camden — Again  disobeys — The  King's  sign- 
manuel  commands  hin  to  obey — He  resigns,  p.  330 

CHAPTER  XXIII 

I.TBurrection — Topography  of  Wexford  County — Persecutions  and  cruel- 
ties of  the  Wexford  Gentry — Commencement  of  Hostilities — State  of 
the  Insurgents — And  their  number — Expected  attack  on  Dublin- 
Excellent  plan  of  the  Insurgents — Executions  in  cold  blood,  and  bar- 
barous exhibition  in  the  Castle  yard — Major  Bacon  executed  without 
trial — Major  Foot  defeated — Col.  Walpole  defeated  and  killed — Gen- 
eral Fawcett  defeated — General  Dundas  and  the  Cavalry  defeated  by 
the  Pikemen — Captain  Armstrong's  treachery — Henry  and  John 
Shears — The  execution  of  the  two  brothers — Progress  of  the  insur- 
rection— Different  Battles — Important  Battle  of  Arklow — Spirited  reply 
cf  Colonel  Skerrit — Battle  of  Ross — Bagenal  Harvey — Dea'.n  of  Lord 
Mountjoy — Unprecedented  instance  of  Heroism  in  a  Boy— The  Royal 
Army  driven  out  of  the  town — Description  of  Vinegar  Hill — Details 
of  the  Engagement — General  Lake's  horse  shot  under  him — Ennis- 
corthy  twice  stormed — Wounded  peasants  burned — Mr.  Grogan  tried 
by  Court  Martial — His  witness  shot  by  the  military — Bill  of  attainder 
— Ten  thousand  pounds  costs  to  the  Attorney  General — Barbarous  ex- 
ecution of  Sir  Edward  Crosby  and  Mr.  Grogan,  linden  colour  of  a 
Court  Martial,  .....  p.  345 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

appointment  of  Lord  Cornwall  is — His  crafty  conduct — French  invade 
Ireland  in  a  small  number — British  troops  totally  defeated,  their  artii- 
lery  all  taken — Races  of  Castlebar — Ninety  militia  men  hanged  by 
Lord  Cornwallis — French  outwit  Lord  Cornwallis — Lord  Jocelyn 
taken  prisoner — French  surrendered — Mr.  Pitt  proceeds  in  his  projects 
of  a  Unior — The  subserviency  of  the  Lords — The  Bishops — Bishops 
of  Waterf  jrd  and  Down — Political  characters  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and 
Lord  Casflereagh — Unfortunate  results  of  Lord  Cornwall  is's  conduct 
in  every  quarter  of  the  world — Lord  Castlereagh — Union  proposed — 
Great  splendour  of  the  Chancellor — Celebrated  Bar  Meeting— Mr. 
Saurin  — Mr.  Saint  George  Daly — Mr.  Thomas  Grady — Mr.  Grady's 
curious  harangue — Mr.  Thomas  Goold's  speech — Thirty-two  County 
Judges  appointed  by  Lord  Clare — Lord  Clare  opposes  the  Bar — Open- 
ing of  the  session  of  1799 — Lord  Clare's  great  power — Lord  Ty- 
rone's character — Seconded  by  Mr.  Fitzgerald — Mr.  John  Ball—  Hii 
tharacter.  ......  361 


EX  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XXV 


The  three  leading  arguments  used  in  Parliament  in  favoui  of  a  Union- 
Arguments  of  the  Anti-Unionists — Not  England  whica  quelled  tli: 
insurrection — English  militia  never  acted  in  Ireland — Mr.  William 
Smith  supports  the  Union — Corrupt  eonduct  of  Mr.  Trench  and  Mr 
Fox — Mr.  Trench  palpably  gained  over — Mr.  Trench  recanted  wha 
he  had  a  few  moments  before  declared — The  Place  Bill  and  its  unfor- 
tunate effects — Mr.  Fox  created  a  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  for  his 
tergiversation— Originally  a  Whig — Made  a  false  declaration  to  avoid 
being  counted — Effect  of  the  Place  Bill — His  second  deception — Con 
duct  of  Mr.  Cooke  and  Admiral  Pakenham — Mr.  Marshall's  disgrace- 
ful conduct — Debate  commenced — Great  popularity  of  the  Speaker — 
Lord  Castlereagh's  policy — Sir  John  Parnell  denied  the  competence  oi 
both  the  King  and  the  Parliament  to  enact  a  Union — Mr.  Tighe  the 
same — Great  effect  of  Mr.  Ponsonby's  speech — Remarkable  agitation — 
Description  of  the  scene— Lord  Castlereagh's  violent  speech — Attack 
on  Mr.  Ponsonby — Mr.  Ponsonby's  sarcastic  reply — Lord  Castle- 
reagh's despsration — Mr.  John  Egan  attacks  Mr.  William  Smith — Sir 
Laurence  Parsons  made  a  most  able  and  eloquent  speech — Mr.  Fred- 
erick Falkiner  nothing  could  corrupt — Prime  Sergeant  Fitzgerald  dis- 
missed— Mr.  Plunket's  speech — Spirited  speech  of  Col.  O'Donnell — 
Second  shameful  tergiversation  of  Mr.  Trench,  created  Lord  Ash  town 
— Most  important  incident  in  the  annals  of  Ireland — State  of  the 
House  of  Commons — Mr.  Fortescue's  fatal  speech — Mr.  French  anc* 
Lord  Cole  seceded — John  Claudius  Beresford — Extraordinary  change 
in  the  feelings  of  the  House — Sarcastic  remark  of  Sir  Henry  Caven- 
dish— Great  popularity  of  the  Speaker — Joy  and.  exultation  of  the 
people — Singular  anecdote  of  Mr.  Martin — Meeting  of  the  Lords— 
Their  infatuation — Conduct  of  Lord  Clare — Unpopularity  of  the  Irish 
Peers — Two  Bishops,  Down  and  Limerick,  opposed  him — Charactei 
•f  the  Bishop  of  Down — Commission  of  Compensation — Subsequen' 
proceedings  of  the  Viceroy  and  Lord  Castlereagh — Ruinous  conse- 
quence of  Mr.  Fortescue's  conduct — Mistaken  conduct  of  the  Anti- 
Unionists — Their  embarrassment — Bad  effects  of  Mr.  Fortescue's  con- 
duct—The Catholics— State  of  parties,  -  -  p.  383 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

The  different  views  of  the  Opposition — Opposition  not  sufficiently  or 
ganized  or  connected — Disunion  in  consequence  of  the  Catholic  ques- 
tion—  Catholics  duped  —  Alternately  oppressed  and  fostered  —  Lord 
Clare's  great  influence — Very  important  despatch  from  Mr.  Pitt,  tc 
Lord  Cornwallis — Unprecedented  plan  of  Lord  Castlereagh — Remark- 
able dinner — The  plan  or  conspiracy — Acceded  to — Rewards  in  Per 
spective — Meeting  of  Anti-Unionists  at  Lord  Charlemont's — Opposi 
tion  Lords  meet — Lord  Castlereagh's  Plan  laid  before  them — Counter- 
plan  proposed — Rejected — Earl  Belmore — His  motion  to  the  same 
effect  as  Mr.  Ponsonby's — Rejected — Very  numerous  addresses  again* 
the  Union — Particularly  Dublin — A  Privy  Council — Lord  Clare's  vio- 
.  fence—  Military  execution — People  killed  and  wounded  — Inefficient!) 


CONTENTS.  XX 

brought  before  Parliament — Anti-Union  dinne  — Mr.  Handcock  oi 
Athlone,  a  conspicuous  patriot — Corrupt  state  of  the  British  Parlia 
ment — Compared  with  that  of  Ireland  at  the  Union — Mr.  Handcoek 
bribed,  -  p.  420 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

Felons  in  the  gaols  induced,  by  promise  of  pardon,  to  sign  petitions  in 
favour  of  the  Union — Every  means  of  corruption  resorted  to  by  the 
Viceroy — Viceroy  doubtful  of  future  support — Resorted  to  Place  Bill 
—Unparalleled  measure  of  public  bribery  avowed  by  Lord  Castle- 
reagh — Bill  to  raise  X  1,500, 000,  for  bribes — Grave  reflection  on  the 
King's  assenting  to  an  avowed  act  of  corruption — A  few  bribes  called 
Compensation — The  British  Parliament  had  anticipated  the  proposal — 
Lord  Comwallis's  speech  peculiarly  artful — Lord  Loftus  moves  the 
address — Lord  Castlereagh's  reason — Sir  Laurence  Pardon's  important 
motion  and  speech — Debate  continued  all  night — Lord  Castlereagh's 
plan  put  into  execution — Mr.  Bushe — Mr.  Plunket — Mr.  St.  George 
Daly — His  character — His  attack  on  Mr.  Bushe — On  Mr.  Plunket — 
Replied  to  by  Mr.  Barrington — Mr.  Peter  Burrows — Affecting  appear 
ance  of  Mr.  Grattan  in  the  House  of  Commons — Returned  lor  Wicklow 
the  preceding  evening — The  impediment  laid  Dy  Government — Re- 
turned at  midnight — Entered  the  house  at  seven  in  the  morning  in  a 
debilitated  state — Description  of  his  entry — Powerful  sensation  caused 
r»y  his  sp'endid  oration — Mr.  Corry  induced  to  reply — No  effect  on  the 
House — The  three  Bagwells  seceded  from  Government — Lord  Ormond 
changed  to  the  minister — Mr.  Arthur  Browne's  tergiversation — Divi- 
sion— Mr.  Foster's  speech — Important  incident — Bad  conduct  of  the 
clergy — Very  singular  circumstance — Mr.  Annesley  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  the  Union — Bishop  of  Clogher  returns  Mr.  Annesley  to 
Parliament — Messrs.  Ball  and  King  petition — Succeed — Mr.  Annesley 
declared  not  duly  elected — Left  the  chair  and  quitted  the  House — Not 
a  legal  chairman — Shameful  and  palpable  act  of  corruption  by  Sir 
William  Gladowe  Newcomen — Bribe  proved — Bribery  of  Mr.  Knox 
and  Mr.  Crowe — Their  speeches  against  the  Union— The  Earl  of 
Belvidere  most  palpably  bribed  to  change  sides — His  resolutions — Mr 
Knox  and  Mr.  Crowe  bribed — Mr.  Usher  bribed  to  secrecy — The  cor- 
rupt agreement  of  Mr.  Crowe  and  Mr.  Knox  to  vacate  their  seat?  for 
Union  members,  in  presence  of  Mr.  Usher,  a  Parson — The  t  rma 
with  Lord  Castlereagh — Mr.  Charles  Ball's  affecting  conduct—  The 
Anti -Union  members,  despairing,  withdraw  in  a  body — Last  sitth  g  of 
the  Irish  Parliament — The  House  surrounded  by  military — )  Cost 
affecting  scene— Bad  consequences  to  England — Unhappiness  o  the 
Speaker- -Irela  id  extinguished,  -  -  -  p   139 


RISE  AND  FAL1 

•f 

THE    IRISH   NATION 


CHAPTER    I. 


Ireland  at  an  early  period — Misgovernment  and  oppression  of  England- 
Irish  statistics— Climate — Geographical  advantages — Internal  resourm 
— Population — Her  depressed  condition  in  1779 — Causes  of  it — Poyn« 
mg's  law — Usurpation  by  England  to  bind  Ireland  by  British  Statute! 
— The  Penal  Statutes  against  Catholics — Fatal  consequences  to  Ireland 
— Ireland  roused  by  the  example  of  America — Success  of  America-— 
Its  effect  on  the  Irish  people — Origin  of  the  Irish  Volunteers — Cha- 
racter of  Lord  Clare — His  intolerance — His  political  inconsistency — 
His  fall. 

I.  More  than  six  centuries  had  passed  away,  since  Ire- 
land had  first  acknowledged  a  subordinate  connexion 
with  the  English  Monarchy — her  voluntary  but  partial 
submission  to  the  sceptres  of  Henry  and  of  Richard  had 
been  construed  by  their  successors  into  the  right  of  con- 
quest— and  the  same  spirit  of  turbulence  and  discord, 
which  had  generated  the  treachery  and  treasons  of 
M'Morrough,  was  carfully  cultivated  by  every  English 
potentate,  as  the  most  effectual  barrier  against  the  strug- 
gles of  a  restless  and  semi-conquered  people — and  Ire- 
land, helpless  and  distracted,  groaned  for  ages  in  obscu- 
rity, under  the  accumulated  pressure  of  internal  strife 
and  external  tyrranny. 

The  apathy  produced  by  this  habitual  oppression  had 
long  benumbed  the  best  energies  of  Ireland; — hei 
national  spirit,  depressed  by  the  heavy  hand  of  arbi 


24  RISE    AND    FALL 

trary  restraint,  almost  forgot  its  own  existence ;  and  the 
proudest  language  of  her  constitution  could  only  boast, 
that  she  was  the  annexed  dependant  of  a  greater  and  a 
freer  country. 

It  was  not  until  an  advanced  stage  of  the  American 
revolt  had  attracted  the  attention  of  enlightened  Europe 
to  the  first  principles  of  civil  liberty,  that  Ireland  began 
steadily  to  reflect  on  her  own  deprivations.  Commerce 
and  constitution  had  been  withdrawn  from  her  grasp, 
and  the  usurped  supremacy*  of  the  British  Parliament 
gave  a  death-blow  to  every  struggle  of  Irish  inde- 
pendence. 

II.  But  in  whatever  relative  situation  the  two  nations 
really  stood,  the  same  jealous  and  narrow  principle  might 
be  perceived  uniformly  attending  every  measure  enacted 
as  to  the  Irish  people.  If  at  any  time  a  cheering  ray  of 
commercial  advantage  chanced  for  a  moment  to  illu- 
minate the  dreary  prospects  of  Ireland,  the  sordid  spirit 
Df  monopoly  instantly  arose  in  England,  and  rendered 
every  effort  to  promote  a  beneficial  trade,  or  advance  a 
rival  manufacture,  vain  and  abortive. 

Commercial  jealousy  and  arbitrary  government  united, 
therefore,  to  suppress  every  struggle  of  the  Irish  nation, 
and  root  up  every  seed  of  prosperity  and  civilization. 

Alarmed  at  the  increasing  population,  the  unsubdued 
spirit,  and  the  inexhaustible  resources  of  that  strong  and 
fertile  island ;  a  dread  of  her  growing  power  excited  a 
fallacious  jealousy  of  her  future  importance.  In  her 
timidity  or  her  avarice,  England  lost  sight  of  her  truest 
interests,  and  of  her  nobler  feelings ;  and  kings,  usurpers, 
and  viceroys,  as  they  respectively  exercised  the  powers 
of  government,  all  acted  towards  Ireland  upon  the  same 
blind  and  arbitary  principles,  which  they  had  imbibed 
from  their  education,  or  inherited  from  their  prede- 
cessors. 

This  desperate  policy,  so  repugnant  to  the  attachment, 
and  fatal  to  the  repose  of  the  two  countries,  excited  the 
spirit  of  eternal  warfare : — an  enthusiastic  love  of  ra- 

*  The  claim  of  the  British  Parliament  to  bind  Ireland  by  Bnit** 
statutes  was  at  length  most  ably  refuted  by  Mr.  William  Molyneux, 
representative  for  Dublin  University,  in  his  celebrated  work,  published 
in  1698,  entitled  "  The  Case  of  Ireland.** 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  25 

tional  independence  sharpened  the  sword,  and  uie  zealots 
of  religious  fanaticism  threw  away  the  scabbard — the 
septs  fought  against  each  other,  the  English  against  all — 
the  population  was  thinned,  but  the  survivors  became 
inveterate ;  and  though  the  wars  and  the  massacres  of 
Elizabeth  and  of  Cromwell,  by  depopulating,  appeared  to 
have  subjugated  the  nation — the  triumph  was  not  glori- 
ous— and  the  conquest  was  not  complete. 

Direct  persecution  against  principles  only  adds  fuel  to 
a  conflagration — the  persons  of  men  may  be  coerced — 
but  it  is  beyond  the  reach  of  human  power  to  subdue  the 
rooted,  hereditary  passions  and  prejudices  of  a  perse- 
vering, ardent,  and  patriotic  people : — such  a  nation 
may  be  gained  over  by  address,  or  seduced  by  dissimula- 
tion, but  can  never  be  reclaimed  by  force,  or  overcome 
by  persecution — yet  from  the  very  first  intercourse  be- 
tween the  two  countries,  that  destructive  system  of  force 
and  of  dissension,  which  so  palpably  led  to  the  miseries 
of  Ireland,  had  been  sedulously  cultivated,  v  nd  unremit- 
tingly persevered  in. 

Thus  grievously  oppressed,  and  ruinous'  y  disunited, 
Ireland  struggled  often,  but  she  struggled  n  vain:  the 
weight  of  her  chains  was  too  heavy  for  the  feebleness  of 
her  constitution,  and  every  effort  to  enlarge  her  liberty 
only  gave  a  new  pretext  to  the  conqueror,  to  circum- 
scribe it  within  a  still  narrower  compass. 

On  the  same  false  principle  of  government  this  op- 
pressed nation  was  also  systematically  retained  in  a  state 
of  the  utmost  obscurity,  and  represented  to  the  world  as 
an  insignificant  and  remote  island,  remarkable  only  for 
her  turbulence  and  sterility:  and  so  perfectly  did  this 
misrepresentation  succeed,  that,  while  every  republic  and 
minor  nation  of  Europe  had  become  the  theme  of  tra- 
vellers, and  the  subject  of  historians,  Ireland  was  visited 
only  to  be  despised,  and  spoken  of  only  to  be  calumni 
ated.  In  truth,  she  is  as  yet  but  little  known  by  the  rest 
of  Europe,  and  but  partially  even  to  the  people  of  Eng- 
land. But  when  the  extraordinary  capabilities,  the  re- 
sources, and  the  powers  of  Ireland  are  fully  developed, 
an  interest  must  arise  in  every  breast,  which  reflects  on 
her  misfortunes.  It  is  time  that  the  curtain,  which  has 
been  so  long  interposed  between   Treland  and  the  rest  of 

Si 


36  RISE    AND    FALL 

Euroi>e,  should  be  drawn  aside  for  ever,  And  a  just  judg- 
ment formed  of  the  impolicy  of  measures,  which  have 
been  adopted  nominally  to  govern,  but  substantially  to 
suppress  her  power  and  prosperity. 

III.  The  position  of  Ireland  upon  the  face  of  the 
globe  peculiarly  formed  her  for  universal  intercourse, 
and  adapted  her  in  every  respect  for  legislative  inde- 
pendence. Separated  by  a  great  sea  from  England — 
the  Irish  people,  dissimilar  in  customs,  more  than  equal 
in  talent,  and  vastly  superior  in  energy,  possess  an  island 
about  900  miles  in  circumference;  with  a  climate,  for 
the  general  mildness  of  temperature  and  moderation  of 
seasons,  unrivalled  in  the  universe — the  parching  heats, 
or  piercing  colds,  the  deep  snows,  the  torrent,  and  the 
hurricane,  which  other  countries  so  fatally  experience,  are 
here  unknown.  Though  her  great  exposure  to  the  spray 
of  the  Atlantic  increases  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere, 
it  adds  to  the  fecundity  of  the  soil,  and  distinguishes  her 
fertile  fields  by  the  productions  of  an  almost  perpetual 
vegetation. 

The  geographical  situation  of  Ireland  is  not  less 
favorable  to  commerce,  than  her  climate  is  to  agricul- 
ture. Her  position  on  the  western  extremity  of  Europe 
would  enable  her  to  intercept  the  trade  of  the  new 
world  from  all  other  nations — the  merchandxse  of  Lon- 
don, of  Bristol,  and  of  Liverpool,  skirt  her  shores,  before 
it  arrives  at  its  own  destination  ;  and  some  of  the  finest 
harbours  in  the  world  invite  the  inhabitants  of  this 
gifted  island  to  accept  the  trade  of  India,  and  form  the 
emporium  of  Europe. 

The  internal  and  natural  advantages  of  Ireland  are 
great  and  inexhaustible.  Rich  mines  are  found  in  almost 
every  quarter  of  the  island ;  gold  is  discovered  in  the 
beds  of  streams,  and  washed  from  the  sands  of  rivulets — 
the  mountains  are  generally  arable  to  their  summits — the 
vallies  exceed  in  fertility  the  most  prolific  soils  of  Eng- 
land— the  rivulets,  which  flow  along  the  declivities,  adapt 
the  country  most  peculiarly  to  the  improvement  of  irri- 
gation ;  and  the  bogs  and  mosses  of  Ireland,  utterly 
unlike  the  fens  and  marshes  of  England,  emit  no  damp 
w  noxious  exhalations  ;  and  give  a  plentiful  and  cheer 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  97 

flig  fuel  to  the  surrounding  peasantry ;  or,  when  re- 
claimed, become  the  most  luxuriant  pastures. 

The  population  of  Ireland  is  great  and  progressive, 
Above  five*  millions  of  a  brave  and  hardy  race  of  men 
are  seen  scattered  through  the  fields,  or  swarming  in  the 
villages — a  vast  redundancy  of  grain,  and  innumerable 
flocks  and  herds,  should  furnish  to  them  not  only  the 
source  of  trade,  but  every  means  of  comfort. 

Dublin,  the  second  city  in  the  British  empire,  though 
it  yields  in  extent,  yields  not  in  architectural  beauties  to 
the  metropolis  of  England.  For  some  years  previous  to 
the  Union,  its  progress  was  excessive — the  locality  of  the 
parliament — the  constant  residence  of  the  nobility  and 
commons — the  magnificent  establishments  of  the  vice- 
regal court — the  indefatigable  hospitality  of  the  people — 
and  the  increasing  commerce  of  the  port,  all  together 
gave  a  brilliant  prosperity  to  that  splendid  and  luxurious 
capital. 

Ireland,t  possessing  the  strongest  features  of  a  power- 
ful state,  though  labouring  under  every  disadvantage 
which  a  restricted  commerce  and  a  jealous  ally  could  inflict 
upon  her  prosperity,  might  still  have  regarded  with  con- 
tempt the  comparatively  unequal  resources  and  inferior 
powers  of  half  the  monarchies  of  Europe.  Her  insular 
situation — her  great  fertility — the  character  of  her 
people — the  amount  of  her  revenues — and  the  extent  of 
her  population,  gave  her  a  decided  superiority  over 
other  nations,  and  rendered  her  crown,  if  accompanied 
by  her  affections,  not  only  J  a  brilliant  but  a  most  sub- 
stantial ornament  to  the  British  empire. 

However,  though  gifted,  and  enriched  by  the  hand  of 
Nature,  the  fomented  dissensions  of  her  own  natives  had 
wedded  Ireland  to  poverty,  and  adapted  her  to  subjuga- 

*  Now  upwards  of  eight  millions 

t  The  relative  size  of  Ireland,  compared  to  England  and  Wales,  is 
about  18  to  30.  It  contains  about  eighteen  millions  of  acres;  is  about 
285  miles  long,  and  above  160  broad.  In  time  of  war  she  lends  more 
than  one  hundred  thousand  soldiers  and  sailors  to  the  English  fleet  and 
army,  and  retains  at  home  above  one  million  of  hardy  men,  from  17  to 
47  years  of  age,  tit  to  uear  arms. 

\  In  the  very  words  of  the  highest  authority  in  Great  Britain  this 
day,  "  If  well  goiemed,  Ireland  would  be  the  brightest  jewel  in  the 
king's  crown." 


Kb  rise  and  fall 

tion — her  innate  capacities  lay  dormant  and  inactive— • 
her  dearest  interests  were  forgotten  by  herself,  Jt  resisted 
by  her  ally ;  and  the  gifts  and  bounties  of  a  favouring 
Providence,  though  lavished,  were  lost  on  a  divided 
people. 

IV.  By  the  paralyzing  system  thus  adopted  towards 
Ireland,  she  was  at  length  reduced  to  the  lowest  ebb — 
her  poverty  and  distresses,  almost  at  their  extent,  were 
advancing  fast  to  their  final  consummation — her  com- 
merce had  almost  ceased — her  manufactures  extinguished 
— her  constitution  withdrawn — the  people  absolutely 
desponding — while  public  and  individual  bankruptcy 
finished  a  picture  of  the  deepest  misery  ;*  and  the  year 
1779  found .  Ireland  almost  every  thing  but  what  such  a 
country  and  such  a  people  ought  to  have  been. 

This  lamentable  state  of  the  Irish  nation  was  not  the 
result  of  any  one  distinct  cause  :  a  combination  of  de- 
pressing circumstances  united  to  bear  down  every  pro- 
gressive effort  of  that  injured  people.  Immured  in  a 
labyrinth  of  difficulties  and  embarrassments,  no  clew  was 
found  to  lead  them  through  the  mazes  of  their  prison ; 
and,  helpless  and  desponding,  they  sunk  into  a  dose  of 
torpid  inactivity,  while  their  humiliated  and  inefficient 
parliaments,  restrained  by  foreign  and  arbitrary  laws, 
subjected  to  the  dictation  of  the  British  Council,  and 
obstructed  in  the  performance  of  its  constitutional  func- 
tions, retained  scarcely  the  shadow  of  an  independent 
legislature. 

A  statute  of  Henry  the  Seventh  of  England,  framed 

*  This  wretched  period  cannot  be  more  pathetically  described,  than  by 
a  most  able  and  just  statement  of  Irish  grievances,  published  in  the  year 
1779,  by  Mr.  Hely  Hutchinson,  (father  of  the  present  Lords  Donough- 
more  and  Hutchinson,)  then  Provost  of  the  Dublin  University,  an  elo- 
quent and  very  distinguished  member  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  In  his 
book  entitled  "  Commercial  Restraints,"  Mr.  Hutchinson  gives  a  pa- 
thetic description  of  the  state  to  which  Ireland  was  reduced  by  the  jeal- 
ous and  narrow  policy  of  England 

This  book  acquired  so  much  character,  and  spoke  so  many  plain  truths, 
that  for  many  years  it  was  qn<^ed  as  an  authority  in  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment.  Mr.  Flood  often  declared,  that,  if  there  were  but  two  copies  of  it 
in  print,  he  would  give  a  thousand  pounds  for  one  of  them.  It  will  b€ 
interesting  to  compare  the  miserable  state  of  Ireland  in  1779  with  hef 
prosperity  In  1794,  when  she  had  enjoyed  only  twelve  years  of  const* 
tutional  independence  and  unrestricted  commerce. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  29 

by  his  Attorney-General,  Sir  Edward  Poyning,  re- 
Btrained  the  Irish  Parliament  from  originating  any  law 
whatever,  either  in  the  Lords  or  Commons.  Before  any 
statute  could  be  finally  discussed,  it  was  previously  to  be 
submitted  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Ireland  and  his 
Privy  Council,  for  their  consideration,  who  might  at  their 
pleasure  reject  it,  or  transmit  it  to  England.  If  trans- 
mitted to  England,  the  British  Attorney  General  and 
Privy  Council  were  invested  with  a  power  either  to  sup- 
press it  altogether,  or  model  it  at  their  own  will,  and 
then  return  it  to  Ireland,  with  permission  to  the  Irish 
Parliament  to  pass  it  into  a  law,  but  without  any  altera- 
;ion,  though  it  frequently  returned  from  England  so 
changed,  as  to  retain  hardly  a  trace  of  its  original  fea- 
tm*es,  or  a  point  of  its  original  object. 

Yet,  as  if  this  arbitrary  law  were  insufficient  to  secure 
Great  Britain  from  the  effect  of  those  rival  advantages, 
which  Ireland  might  in  process  of  time  eventually  ac- 
quire ;  and  as  if  that  counteracting  power,  with  which 
England  had  invested  herself  by  the  law  of  Poyning, 
were  unequal  to  the  task  of  effectually  suppressing  all 
rivalship  of  the  Irish  people,  and  independence  of  the 
Irish  Parliament  ;  it  was  thought  advisable  by  Great 
Britain,  to  usurp  a  positive  right  to  legislate  for  Ireland, 
without  her  own  consent,  or  the  interference  of  her  Par- 
liament :  and  a  law  was  accordingly  enacted  at  West- 
minster, in  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  George  the 
First,  by  one  sweeping  clause  of  which  England  assumed 
a  despotic  power,  and  declared  her  inherent  right  to.  bind 
Ireland  by  every  British  statute,  in  which  she  should  be 
expressly  designated  :  and  thus,  by  the  authority  of  the 
British  Council  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  positive  right 
assumed  by  the  British  Parliament  upon  the  other,  Ire- 
land retained  no  more  the  attributes  of  an  independent 
nation,  than  a  monarch,  attended  in  a  dungeon  with  all 
the  state  and  trappings  of  royalty,  and  bound  hand  and 
foot  in  golden  shackles,  could  be  justly  styled  an  inde- 
pendent potentate. 

The  effect  of  this  tyrannical  and  ruinous  system  fell 
most  heavily  on  the  trade  of  Ireland.  Its  influence  was 
experienced  not  merely  by  any  particular  branch  of  com- 
merce, but    in  everv  scaee  of  manufacture,  of  arts,  ol 

"  3* 


30  RISE    AND    FALL 

trade,  and  of  agriculture.  In  every  struggle  of  the  hist 
Parliament  to  promote  the  commerce  or  the  manufac* 
tures  of  their  country,  the  British  monopolizers  were 
perpetually .  victorious  ;  and  even  the  speculative  jea- 
lousy of  a  manufacturing  village  of  Great  Britain  was 
of  sufficient  weight  to  negative  any  measure,  however 
beneficial  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  sister  country. 

The  same  jealousy  and  the  same  system,  which  ope- 
rated so  fatally  against  the  advancement  of  her  com- 
merce, operated  as  strongly  against  the  improvement  of 
her  constitution.  England  was  well  aware,  that  the 
acquirement  of  an  independent  Parliament  would  be  the 
sure  forerunner  of  commercial  liberty ;  and,  posseted  of 
the  means  to  counteract  these  objects,  she  seerned  de- 
termined never  to  relax  the  strength  of  that  power,  by 
the  despotic  exercise  of  which  Ireland  had  been  so  long 
continued  in  a  state  of  thraldom. 

But  exclusive  of  these  slavish  restraints  (the  necessary 
consequence  of  a  dependent  legislature,)  another  system, 
not  less  adverse  to  the  general  prosperity  of  the  whole 
island,  than  repugnant  to  the  principles  of  natural  justice 
and  of  sound  policy,  had  been  long  acted  upon  with 
every  severity,  that  bigotry  could  suggest,  or  intolerance 
could  dictate. 

V.  The  penal  statutes,  under  the  tyrannical  pressure 
of  which  the  Catholics  had  so  long  and  so  grievously 
laboured,  though  in  some  instances  softened  down,  still 
bore  heavily  upon  four-fifths  of  the  Irish  population — a 
code,  which  would  have  dishonoured  even  the  sanguinary 
pen  of  Draco,  had  inflicied  every  pain  and  penalty,  every 
restriction  and  oppression,  under  which  a  people  could 
linger  out  a  miserable  existence.  By  these  statutes,  the 
exercise  of  religion  had  been  held  a  crime,  the  educa* 
tion  of  children  a  high  misdemeanour — the  son  was 
encouraged  to  betray  his  father — the  child  rewarded  for 
the  ruin  of  his  parent — the  house  of  God  declared  a 
public  nuisance — the  officiating  pastor  proclaimed  an  out- 
law— the  acq  lirement  of  property  absolutely  prohibited — 
the  exercise  of  trades  restrained — plunder  legalized  in 
courts  of  law,  and  breach  of  trust  rewarded  in  courts  of 
equity — the  Irish  Catholic  excluded  from  the  possession 
of  any  office  or  occupation   in   the  state,  the  law,  the 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  31 

limy,  the  navy,  the  municipal  bodies,  and  the  chartered 
corporations — and  the  mild  doctrines  of  the  Christian 
1aith  perverted,  even  in  the  pulpit,  to  the  worst  purposes 
of  religious  persecution. 

Yet  under  this  galling  yoke  the  Irish,  for  near  eighty 
years  remained  tranquil  and  submissive.  The  ignorance, 
into  which  poverty  and  wretchedness  had  plunged  that 
people,  prevented  them  from  perceiving  the  whole  extent 
of  the  oppression  ;  and  these  penal  laws,  while  they  ope- 
rated as  an  insuperable  bar  to  the  advancement  of  the  Ca- 
tholic, deeply  affected  the  general  interest  of  the  Protes- 
tant. The  impoverished  tenant — the  needy  landlord — the 
unenterprising  merchant — the  idle  artisan,  could  all  trace 
the  origin  of  their  wants  to  the  enactment  of  these  sta- 
tutes. Profession  was  not  permitted  to  engage  the  mind 
of  youth,  or  education  to  cultivate  his  understanding. 
Dissolute  habits,  the  certain  result  of  idleness  and  illi- 
terateness,  were  consequently  making  a  rapid  progress  in 
almost  every  class  of  society.  The  gentry  were  not 
exempt  from  the  habits  of  the  peasant ;  the  spirit  of  in- 
dustry took  her  flight  altogether  from  the  island ;  and, 
as  the  loss  of  commerce  and  constitution  had  no  counter- 
acting advantages,  every  thing  combined  to  reduce  Ire- 
land to  a  state  of  the  most  general  and  unqualified 
depression. 

VI.  It  was  about  this  period,  when  the  short-sighted 
policy  of  the  British  Government  had  by  its  own  arbi- 
trary proceedings  planted  the  seeds  of  that  political 
philosophy,  afterwards  so  fatal  to  the  most  powerful 
monarchies  of  Europe,  that  Ireland  began  to  feel  herself 
affected  by  the  struggles  of  America.  The  spirit  of  in- 
dependence had  crossed  the  Atlantic,  and  the  Irish 
people,  awakened  from  a  trance,  beheld  with  anxiety  the 
contest,  in  which  they  now  began  to  feel  an  interest. 
They  regarded  with  admiration  the  exertions  of  a  colony 
combating  for  the  first  principles  of  civil  liberty,  and 
giving  to  the  world  an  instructive  lesson  of  fortitude  and 
perseverance. 

Spread  over  a  vast  expanse  of  region,  America,  with- 
out wealth — without  resources — without  population — 
without  fortresses — without  allies — had  every  thing  to 
contend  with,  and  every  thing  to  conquer.     But  freedom 


92  RISE    AND    FALL 

was  her  call,  and  as  if  she  had  been  designa  ed  by  Pro*  « 
dence  for  an  example  to  the  universe  of  what  even 
powerless  states  can  achieve  by  enthusiasm  and  unani- 
mity,  her  strength  increased  with  her  deprivations,  and 
the  firmness  of  one  great  and  good  man  converted  the 
feebleness  of  a  colony  into  the  power  of  an  empire. 
The  defeats  of  Washington  augmented  his  armies — his 
wants  and  necessities  called  forth  his  intellect — while  his 
wisdom,  firmness,  and  moderation,  procured  him  power- 
ful friends,  and  secured  him  ultimate  victory.  The 
strength  of  Great  Britain  at  length  yielded  to  the  vigor 
of  his  mind,  and  the  unflinching  fortitude  of  his  people ; 
and  Lord  Cornwallis,  (the  chosen  instrument  for  op- 
pressing heroic  nations,)  by  his  defeat  and  his  captivity, 
established  the  independence  of  America.  The  arrogance 
of  England  bowed  its  proud  head  to  the  shrine  of  liberty, 
and  her  favorite  general  led  back  the  relics  of  his  con- 
quered army,  to  commemorate  in  the  mother  country 
the  impotence  of  her  power,  and  emancipation  of  her 
colonies. 

While  these  great  events  were  gradually  proceeding 
towards  their  final  completion ;  Ireland  became  every  day 
a  more  anxious  spectator  of  the  arduous  conflict — every 
incident  in  America  began  to  communicate  a  sympathetic 
impulse  to  the  Irish  people : — the  moment  was  critical : — 
the  nation  became  enlightened — a  patriotic  ardor  took 
possession  of  her  whole  frame,  and,  before  she  had  welJ 
considered  the  object  of  her  solicitude,  the  spark  of  con- 
stitutional liberty  had  found  its  way  into  her  bosom. 

The  disposition  of  Ireland  to  avail  herself  of  the  circum- 
stances of  those  times,  so  favourable  to  the  attainment  of 
her  rights,  now  openly  avowed  itself.  Her  determination 
to  claim  her  constitution  from  the  British  Government 
became  unequivocal,  and  she  began  to  assume  the  attitude 
and  language  of  a  nation  "  entitled  to  independence? — 
The  sound  of  arms  and  the  voice  of  freedom  echoed  from 
every  quarter  of  the  Island — distinctions  were  forgotten, 
or  disregarded — every  rank,  eve~y  religion,  alike  caught 
the  general  feeling, — but  firmness  and  discretion  charac- 
terised her  proceedings  : — she  gradually  arose  from  torpor 
and  obscurity — her  native  spirit  drew  aside  the  curtain, 
that  had   so  long  concealed   her  rTom  the   world  ;  and 


OP   THE    IRISH    NATION.  33 

exhibited  an  armed  and  animated  people,  claiming  theii 
natural  rights,  and  demanding  their  constitutional  liberty. 

When  the  dawn  of  political  liberty  begins  to  diffuse 
itself  over  a  nation,  great  and  gifted  characters  suddenly 
spring  up  from  among  the  people — animated  by  new 
subjects,  their  various  talents  and  principles  become 
developed — they  interweave  themselves  with  the  events 
of  their  country,  become  inseparable  from  its  misfortunes, 
or  identified  with  its  prosperity. 

Ireland,  at  this  era,  possessed  many  men  of  superior 
capacities — some  distinguished  by  their  pure  attachment 
to  constitutional  liberty — others  by  their  slavish  deference 
to  ruling  powers  and  patronizing  authorities.  Among 
those  whom  the  spirit  of  these  times  called  forth  to  public 
notice  was  seen  one  of  the  most  bold  and  energetic  leaders 
of  modern  days  an  anticipated  knowledge  of  whose  mark- 
ed and  restless  character  is  a  necessary  preface  to  a  recital 
of  Irish  recurrences,  in  which  the  effects  of  his  passions 
will  be  every  where  traced,  and  the  mischievous  errors  of 
his  judgment  be  perceived  and  lamented. 

VII.  This  person  was  John  Fitzgibbon,  afterwards  Earl 
of  Clare — Attorney  General,  and  Lord  High  Chancellor 
of  Ireland.  His  ascertained  pedigree  was  short,  though 
his  name  bespoke  an  early  respectability.  His  grandfather 
was  obscure — his  father,  intended  for  the  profession  of  a 
Catholic  pastor,  but  possessing  a  mind  superior  to  the 
habits  of  monkish  seclusion,  procured  himself  to  be  called 
to  the  Irish  bar,  where  his  talents  raised  him  to  the 
highest  estimation,  and  finally  established  him  in  fame 
and  fortune. 

John  Fitzgibbon,  the  second  son  of  this  man,  was  called 
to  the  bar  in  1772.  Naturally  dissipated,  he  for  some 
time  attended  but  little  to  the  duties  of  his  profession ; 
but  on  the  death  of  his  elder  brother  and  his  father,  he 
found  himself  in  possession  of  all  those  advantages,  which 
led  him  rapidly  forward  to  the  extremity  of  his  objects. 
Considerable  fortune — professional  talents — extensive 
connexions — and  undismayed  confidence,  elevated  him  to 
those  stations,  on  which  he  afterwards  appeared  so  con- 
spicuously seated ;  while  the  historic  eye,  as  it  follows 
his  career,  perceives  him  lightly  bounding  over  every 
obstacle,  which  checked  his  course,  to  that  goal  where  all 


34  RISE    AND    PALL 

the  trophies  and  thorns  of  power  were  collected  for  till 
reception. 

In  the  Earl  of  Clare  we  find  a  man  eminently  gifted 
with  talents  adapted  either  for  a  blessing  or  a  curse  to 
the  nation  he  inhabited ;  but  early  enveloped  in  high  and 
dazzling  authority,  he  lost  his  way ;  and  considering  his 
power  as  a  victory,  he  ruled  his  country  as  a  conquest : — 
indiscriminate  in  his  friendships — and  implacable  in  Lis 
animosities — he  carried  to  the  grave  all  the  passions  of 
his  childhood. 

He  hated  powerful  talents,  because  he  feared  them; 
and  trampled  on  modest  merit,  because  it  was  incapable 
of  resistance.  Authoritative  and  peremptory  in  his  ad- 
dress ;  commanding,  able,  and  arrogant,  in  his  language, 
a  daring  contempt  for  public  opinion  was  the  fatal  principle 
which  misguided  his  conduct ;  and  Ireland  became  divided 
between  the  friends  of  his  patronage — the  slaves  of  his 
power — and  the  enemies  to  his  tyranny. 

His  character  had  no  medium,  his  manners  no  medio- 
crity— the  example  of  his  extremes  was  adopted  by  his 
intimates,  and  excited  in  those  who  knew  him  feelings 
either  of  warm  attachment,  or  of  rivetted  aversion. 

While  he  held  the  seals  in  Ireland,  he  united  a  vigorous 
capacity  with  the  most  striking  errors :  as  a  judge,  he 
collected  facts  with  a  rapid  precision,  and  decided  on  them 
with  a  prompt  asperity:  but  he  hated  precedent,  and 
despised  the  highest  judicial  authorities,  because  they 
were  not  his  own. 

As  a  politician  and  a  statesman,  the  character  of  Lord 
Clare  is  too  well  known,  and  its  effects  too  generally 
experienced,  to  be  mistaken  or  misrepresented — the  era 
of  his  reign  was  the  downfall  of  his  country — his  councils 
accelerated  what  his  policy  might  have  suppressed,  and 
have  marked  the  annals  of  Ireland  with  stains  and  mise- 
ries unequalled  and  indelible. 

In  council, — rapid,  peremptory,  and  overbearing — he 
regarded  promptness  of  execution,  rather  than  discretion 
of  arrangement,  and  piqued  himself  more  on  expertness 
of  thought  than  sobriety  of  judgment.  Through  all  the 
calamities  of  Ireland,  the  mild  voice  of  conciliation  nevei 
escaj>ed  his  lips ;  and  when  the  torrent  of  civil  war  had 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  38 

gubsided  in  his  country,  he  held  out  no  olive,  to  show  that 
the  deluge  had  receded. 

Acting  upon  a  conviction,  that  his  power  was  hut  co- 
existent with  the  order  of  public  establishments,  and  the 
tenure  of  his  office  limited  to  the  continuance  of  adminis- 
tration, he  supported  both  with  less  prudence,  and  more 
desperation,  than  sound  policy  or  an  enlightened  mind 
should  permit  or  dictate ;  his  extravagant  doctrines  of 
religious  intolerance  created  the  most  mischievous  pre- 
texts for  his  intemperance  in  upholding  them ;  and,  under 
colour  of  defending  the  principles  of  one  revolution,  he 
had  nearly  plunged  the  nation  into  all  the  miseries  of 
another. 

His  political  conduct  has  been  accounted  uniform,  but 
in  detail  it  will  be  found  to  have  been  miserably  incon- 
sistent. In  1781,  he  took  up  arms  to  obtain  a  declaration 
of  Irish  independence ;  in  1800,  he  recommended  the 
introduction  of  a  military  force  to  assist  in  its  extinguish- 
ment ,  he  proclaimed  Ireland  a  free  nation  in  1783,  and 
argued  that  it  should  be  a  province  in  1799 ;  in  1782  he 
called  the  acts  of  the  British  Legislature  towards  Ireland 
"  a  daring  usurpation  on  the  rights  of  a  free  people,"* 
and  in  1800  he  transferred  Ireland  to  the  usurper.  On 
ail  ocasions  his  ambition  as  despotically  governed  his 
politics,  as  his  reason  invariably  sunk  before  his  pre- 
judice. 

Though  he  intrinsically  hated  a  Legislative  Union,  his 
lust  for  power  induced  him  to  support  it ;  the  preservation 
of  office  overcame  the  impulse  of  conviction,  and  he  stre- 
nuously supported  that  measure,  after  having  openly 
avowed  himself  its  enemy :  its  completion,  however, 
blasted  his  hopes,  and  hastened  his  dissolution.  The 
restlessness  of  his  habit,  and  the  obtrusiveness  of  his  dis- 
position, became  insupportably  embarrassing  to  the  British 
cabinet — the  danger  of  his  talents  as  a  minister,  and  the 
inadequacy  of  his  judgment  as  a  statesman,  had  been 
proved  in  Ireland :  he  1  ad  been  a  useful  instrument  in 
that  country,  but  the  same  line  of  services  which  he  per- 

*  In  his  Lordship's  answer  to  the  address  of  Dublin  University,  on  th« 
14th  of  April  1782,  upon  the  declaration  of  rights,  he  used  Ihese  words 
and  added,  that  "he  had  uniformly  expressed  that  opinion  both  in  pui 
lie  and  in  private." 


£6  RISE    AND    FALL 

formed  in  Ireland,  would  have  been  ruinous  to  Ureal 
Britain,  and  Lord  Clare  was  no  longer  consulted. 

The  union  at  length  effected  through  his  friends,  what 
Ireland  could  never  accomplish  through  his  enemies — his 
total  overthrow.  Unaccustomed  to  control,  and  unable 
to  submit,  he  returned  to  his  country,  weary,  drooping, 
and  disappointed ;  regretting  what  he  had  done,  yet 
miserable  that  he  could  do  no  more :  his  importance  had 
expired  with  the  Irish  Parliament,  his  patronage  ceased 
to  supply  food  for  his  ambition,  the  mind  and  the  body 
became  too  sympathetic  for  existence,  and  he  sunk  into 
the  grave,  a  conspicuous  example  of  human  talent  and 
human  frailty. 

In  his  person  he  was  about  the  middle  size,  slight,  and 
not  graceful,  his  eyes,  large,  dark,  and  penetrating, 
betrayed  some  of  the  boldest  traits  of  his  uncommon 
character,  his  countenance,  though  expressive  and  manly, 
yet  discovered  nothing,  which  could  deceive  the  physiog- 
nomist into  an  opinion  of  his  magnanimity,  or,  call  forth 
a  eulogium  on  his  virtues. 

During  twenty  momentous  and  eventful  years,  the  life 
of  Lord  Clare  is  in  fact  the  history  of  Ireland — as  in 
romance  some  puissant  and  doughty  chieftain  appears 
prominent  in  every  feat  of  chivalry — the  champion  in 
every  strife — the  hero  of  every  encounter,  and,  after  a  life 
of  toil  and  of  battle,  falls  surrounded  by  a  host  of  foes,  a 
victim  to  his  own  ambition  and  temerity. 

Thus  Earl  Clare,  throughout  those  eventful  periods, 
will  be  seen  bold,  active  and  desperate,  engaging  fiercely 
in  every  important  conflict  of  the  Irish  nation  and  at  length 
after  having  sacrificed  his  country  to  his  passions  and  nil 
ambition,  endeavouring  to  atone  for  his  errors,  by  sacri- 
ficing himself. 


0»    THE    IRISH    NATION. 


CHAPTER    II 

Mate  of  the  Irish  Parliament  previous  to  1779 — Previous  to  1780,  occa* 
sional  contests  arose  in  the  Irish  Parliaments — The  absentees — Thf 
Irish  Bar — Its  influence  and  Independence — Mr.  Burgh  Prime-Ser- 
geant— The  Attorney-general — France  assists  America  against  Eng- 
land— France  the  champion  of  Liberty ;  England  of  Slavery — France 
threatens  to  invade  Ireland — England  prostrate  and  incapable  of  assist- 
ing Ireland — Moderation  and  patriotism  of  the  Catholics — Character 
of  the  Irish  people  misrepresented  and  misunderstood  in  England — 
Irish  character  defamed  by  English  writers — Character  of  the  Irish 
peasant — Their  undaunted  courage — Attachment  to  their  country — 
The  Gentry — Romantic  Chivalry  of  the  Irish  gentry — Suicide  uh- 
known  in  Ireland — Irish  Peerage — Protestant  Clergy — Catholic  Cler- 
gy— Their  conduct  and  manners 

I.  The  habits  of  commerce  and  the  pursuits  of  avarice 
had  not,  at  this  period,  absorbed  the  spirit  or  contracted 
the  intellect  of  the  Irish  people.  That  vigorous  compre- 
hensive, and  pathetic  eloquence,  so  peculiar  to  Ireland, 
which  grasped  at  once  the  reason  and  the  passions,  still 
retained  its  ascendency  at  the  bar,  and  its  pre-eminence 
in  the  Senate  :  and  the  Commons'  House  of  Parliament, 
about  the  period  of  Lord  Clare's  first  introduction  into 
public  notice,  contained  as  much  character,  as  much 
eloquence,  and  as  much  sincerity,  as  any  popular  assembly 
since  the  most  brilliant  era  of  the  Roman  republic. 

II.  It  might  be  reasonable  to  infer  that  a  nation  so 
long  retained  in  the  trammels  of  dependence,  so  habituated 
through  successive  generations,  to  control  and  to  subjection 
would  have  lost  much  of  its  natural  energy,  and  more  of 
its  national  feeling.  But,  though  the  Irish  Parliament, 
previous  to  1779,  in  general  manifested  strong  indications 
of  a  declining  and  a  subservient  body,  yet,  even  after 
centuries  of  depression,  when  roused  by  the  sting  of 
accumulating  usurpation,  its  latent  spirit  occasionally 
burst  forth,  and  should  have  convinced  the  British 
Government,  that  though  the  flame  of  liberty  may  bt 
smothered,  the-  spark  is  unextinguishable. 


SO  RISE    AXU    FALL 

Although,  by  the  operation  of  Poyning's  .aw,  the  pa* 
liamentary  discussions  were  generally  restricted  to  loca. 
subjects  and  domestic  arrangements,  yet  constitutional 
questions  of  a  vital  tendency  incidentally  occurred;  ana 
the  exercise  of  controling  powers,  assumed  by  the  British 
Cabinet  over  the  concerns  of  Ireland  often  afforded  matter 
of  serious  controversy  between  the  viceroy  and  the  nation 
and  had,  in  some  instances,  been  resisted  by  the  Parlia- 
ment with  a  warmth  and  a  pertinacity  which  foretold  a 
certainty  of  more  important  contests.* 

These  struggles,  however,  although  frequent,  were 
fruitless.  The  country  was  not  yet  ripe  for  independence, 
constitutional  freedom  had  been  so  long  obsolete,  that 
even  its  first  principles  were  nearly  forgotten,  and  the 
people  were  again  to  learn  the  rudiments,  before  they 
could  speak  the  language  of  liberty.  But  the  fortitude, 
the  wisdom,  and  the  perseverance  of  the  Anglo-American 
colonies,  the  feebleness,  the  impolicy,  and  the  divisions 

*  On  many  occasions  previous  to  1779,  the  Irish  Commons  asserted 
their  independent  rights  and  privileges  with  great  warmth,  though  some- 
times without  success.  In  1749,  a  redundancy  of  ^53,000  remaining 
in  the  Irish  treasury — an  unappropriated  balance  in  favour  of  the  nation, 
after  paying  all  the  establishments — the  King  sent  over  his  letter  to  draw 
that  sum  to  England,  as  a  part  of  his  hereditary  revenue.  But  the  Irish 
Parliament  resisted  the  authority  of  his  Majesty's  letter,  as  an  encroach 
rnent  on  the  distinctness  and  independence  oi  Ireland;  a  part  of  tha< 
sum  having  arisen  from  additional  duties  imposed  by  her  Parliament. 
The  King  consulted  the  English  judges,  who  were  of  opinion  that  the 
King's  previous  consent  was  necessary  to  its  appropriation ;  but  the  Irish 
Commons  insisted  on  their  right  of  appropriation,  and  asserted  that  his 
Majesty's  subsequent  assent  only  was  necessary.  This  contest  was 
warmly  maintained  until  the  year  1753,  when  the  Irish  Commons  suc- 
ceeded in  establishing  their  principle. 

The  principles  of  Mr.  Molyneux's  "  Case  of  Ireland"  published  in 
1698,  had  never  ceased  to  make  a  strong  impression  on  the  minds  of  the 
Irish  people.  The  British  Parliament  ordered  it  to  be  burned  by  the 
hands  of  the  common  executioner ;  but  that  measure  defeated  its  own 
object,  by  greatly  increasing  its  celebrity  and  circulation.  The  same 
principles  were  strongly  inculcated,  in  several  publications,  by  a  very 
»ble  writer,  Doctor  Charles  Lucas,  member  for  Dublin.  For  those  wri- 
tings, he  was  expelled  from  the  house ;  but  he  afterwards  resumed  his 
seat  wiih  increased  character  and  influence ;  and,  to  this  day,  his  statue, 
in  white  marble,  stands  eminently  conspicuous  in  the  Royal  Exchange 
it  Dublin,  as  a  monument  of  his  steady  patriotism.  Before  him,  "* 
Swift,  whose  name  is  still  adored  by  the  Irish,  had  employed  his  n 
terly  pen  with  powerful  effect  in  fostering  the  spirit  of  independence. 


OW   THE    IRISH    NATION.  39 

of  Gieat  Britain;  soon  taught  Ireland  the  importance  of 
the  crisis ;  and  by  a  firmness,  a  moderation,  and  an 
unanimity,  unparalleled  in  the  annals  of  revolution,  the 
Irish  Volunteers  acquired  for  their  country  a  civic  crown, 
which  nothing  but  the  insanity  of  rebellion  and  the  arti- 
fices and  frauds  of  Union,  could  ever  have  torn  from  the 
brow  of  the  Irish  people. 

III.  Absentees*  who  have  ever  been  and  ever  wiL 
remain  an  obstacle  to  the  substantial  prosperity  of  Ireland 
exerted  themselves  more  particularly  at  this  period,  in 
giving  a  strenuous  and  weighty  opposition  to  every 
measure  of  innovation,  they  knew  their  Irish  demesnes 
only  by  name  and  by  income,  they  felt  no  interest  but  for 
their  rents,  and  no  patriotism  but  for  the  territory,  alarmed 
at  any  legislative  measure  originating  in  Ireland.  They 
showed  themselves  equally  ignorant  and  regardless  of 
her  constitution,  and  ever  proved  themselves  the  steady 
adherents  of  the  Minister  for  the  time  being ;  their  proxies 
in  the  Lords,  and  their  influence  in  the  Commons,  were 
transferred  to  him  on  a  card  or  in  a  letter,  and,  on  every 
division  in  both  houses,  almost  invariably  formed  a 
phalanx  against  the  true  and  genuine  interest  of  the 
country. 

IV.  However  zealous  and  determined  the  incipient 
exertions  of  the  Irish  nation  might  have  been,  they  would 
probably  have  been  crushed  and  extinguished,  had  not  a 
class  of  men,  possessing  the  first  talents  in  the  senate  and 
the  highest  confidence  of  the  country,  stepped  boldly 
forward  to  support  the  people.  In  those  days  the  Irish 
Bar,  a  body  equally  formidable  to  the  Government  by 
their  character  and  their  capacity,  too  independent  to  be 
restrained,  and  too  proud  to  be  corrupted,  comprised 
many  sons  of  the  resident  noblemen  and  commoners  01 
Ireland.  The  legal  science  was  at  that  time  considered 
as  part  of  an  Irish  gentleman's  education  :  the  practice 
was  then  not  a  trade,  but  a  profession.  Eloquence  was 
cultivated  by  its  votaries,  as  a  preparation  for  the  higher 
duties  of  the  senate,  and,  as  almost  every  peer  and  eveiy 

*  The  absentees  of  the  present  day  annually  draw  from  Ireland  abovi 
three  millions  sterling,  to  be  expended  in  Great  Britain.  Son?**  nf  the  Urn 
offices  of  the  greatest  emolument,  connected  with  the  Irish  courts  ot  jo» 
lice,  are  now  held  by  constant  absentees. 


fO  RI8E    AND    PALI. 

commoner  had  a  relative  enrolled  among  their  nun  ber, 
so  they  had  no  interest  in  the  conduct  and  honor  of  that 
department  of  society.  The  influence  therefore  of  the 
bar  as  a  body,  increased  by  the  general  respect  for  the 
connexions  and  cultivated  talents  of  its  members,  gave 
them  an  ascendency  both  in  and  out  of  Parliament,  which 
could  scarcely  be  counteracted,  and,  on  certain  trying 
occasions  the  conduct  of  some  of  the  law-officers  afforded 
experimental  proof,  that  even  they  considered  their  offices 
as  no  longer  tenable  with  advantage  to  the  King,  if  the 
Minister  should  attempt  to  use  them  as  instruments 
against  the  people. 

The  rank  and  station  of  the  law-officers  of  Ireland  in 
those  days  were  peculiarly  dignified,  and  conveyed  an 
impression  of  importance,  which  the  modern  degeneracy 
of  talent  and  relaxation  of  wholesome  forms  and  of  dis- 
tinctions has  altogether  done  away  with. — The  office  of 
Prime  Sergeant,  then  the  first  law-officer  of  Ireland,  was 
filled  at  this  period  by  one  of  the  most  amiable  and  elo- 
quent men  that  ever  appeared  on  the  stage  of  politics — 
Walter  Hussey  Burgh,  whose  conduct  in  a  subsequent 
transaction  rendered  him  justly  celebrated  and  illustrious. 
This  gentleman  was  then  representative  for  Dublin  Uni- 
versity ;  in  which  office,  he  and  M.  Fitzgibbon  were 
colleagues — men  in  whose  public  characters,  scarcely  a 
trait  of  similarity  can  be  discovered.  Mild,  moderate,  and 
patriotic,  Mr.  Burgh  was  proud  without  arrogance,  and 
dignified  without  effort :  equally  attentive  to  public  con- 
cerns and  careless  of  his  own,  he  had  neither  avarice  to 
acquire  wealth,  nor  parsimony  to  hoard  it : — liberal,  even 
to  profusion — friendly,  to  a  fault — and  disinterested,  to  a 
weakness — he  was  honest  without  affluence,  and  ambitious 
without  corruption : — his  eloquence  .was  of  the  highest 
order — figurative,  splendid,  and  convincing : — at  the  bar, 
in  the  Parliament,  and  among  the  people  he  was  equally 
admired,  and  universally  respected. 

But,  when  we  compare  Mr.  Burgh  with  the  then  Attor- 
ney General  of  Ireland,  who  had  been  selected  by  Lord 
Townsend  to  bear  down,  if  possible,  the  spirit  of  the 
country,  the  contrast  may  give  a  strong  view  of  that 
policy,  which  falling  ministers  frequently  and  perhaps 
judiciously  adopt,  of  endeavouring,  if  practicable,  to  enlist 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  4 

and  scat  upon  their  benches  some  popular  and  elevated 
personage  of  opposition,  who.  by  his  character,  may  give 
strength  to  the  party  which  surrounds  him,  or  at  least 
may  for  ever  prostrate  his  own  reputation  by  the  unpopu- 
larity of  the  connection. 

Mr.  John  Scott,  then  Attorney  General,  and  afterwards 
created  Earl  of  Clonmel,  and  Chief  Justice  of  Ireland, 
exhibited  the  most  striking  contrast  to  the  character  of 
the  Prime  Sergeant.  Sprung  from  the  humbler  order  of 
society,  he  adventured  upon  the  world  without  any 
advantage,  save  the  strength  of  his  intellect  and  the 
versatility  of  his  talents.  He  held  his  head  high,  his 
boldness  was  his  first  introduction,  his  policy,  his  ultimate 
preferment.  Courageous,*  humorous,  artificial,  he  knew 
the  world  well,  and  he  profited  by  that  knowledge ;  he 
cultivated  the  powerful ;  he  bullied  the  timid,  he  fought 
the  brave,  he  flattered  the  vain,  he  duped  the  credulous, 
and  he  amused  the  convivial.  Half  liked,  half  repro- 
bated, he  was  too  high  to  be  despised,  and  too  low  to  be 
respected.  His  language  was  coarse,  and  his  principles 
arbitrary :  but  his  passions  were  his  slaves,  and  his  cun- 
ning was  his  instrument.  He  recollected  favors  received 
in  his  obscurity,  and,  in  some  instances,  had  gratitude  to 
requite  the  obligation  :  but  his  avarice  and  his  ostentation 
contended  for  the  ascendency:  their  strife  was  perpetual, 
and  their  victories  alternate.  In  public  and  in  private,  he 
was  the  same  character ;  and,  though  a  most  fortunate 
man  and  a  successful  courtier,  he  had  scarcely  a  sincere 
friend,  or  a  disinterested  adherent. 

This  marked  contrariety  in  character  and  disposition, 
which  distinguished  those  chief  law-officers  of  government, 
was  equally  discernible  in  almost  every  other  department  : 
the  virtues  and  the  talents  of  Grattan,  of  Flood,  of  Yel- 
verton,  of  Daly,  found  their  contrasts  on  the  same 
benches ;  and  these  two  distinguished  characters  are  thus 
brought  forward,  by  anticipation  to  show  in  the  strongest 
point  of  view  how  powerful  and  insinuating  the  public 
feeling  of  that  day  must  have  been,  that  could  finally 
draw  together,  in  one  common  cause,  peraonages  so 

•  His  Lordship  fought  several  duels  before  he  was  CoW  Jvsrice  a* 
the  King's  Bench.  The  tete  Earl  of  Landaff,  and  the  present  Lord  IV 
rawly,  were  two  of  his  antagonists. 


42  RISE    AND    FALL 

opposite  and  so  adverse  on  almost  every  political  object, 
and  in  every  national  principal. 

The  crisis,  however,  now  approached,  when  Ireland 
was  for  a  moment  to  rear  her  head  among  imperia. 
nations:  strange  and  unforseen  events  began  to  crowd 
the  annals  of  the  world, — the  established  axioms  of  general 
polity  began  to  lose  their  weight  among  nations;  and 
governments,  widely  wandering  from  the  fundamental 
principles  of  their  own  constitutions,  seemed  carelessly 
travelling  the  road  to  anarchy  and  revolution. 

The  rival  powers  of  England  and  of  France — ever 
jealous  ever  insincere — concluding  deceptions  negotia- 
tions by  fallacious  treaties — doubtful  of  each  other's 
honor,  and  dreading  each  other's  prowess — had  long  stood 
cautiously  at  bay — each  watching  for  an  unguarded  open 
to  give  a  mortal  wound  to  her  adversary — yet  each 
dreading  the  consequences  of  an  unsuccessful  eifort. 

However,  the  perseverance  and  successes  of  America 
communicated  a  stimulating  impulse  to  the  councils  of 
the  French  King ;  and  that  ill-fated  monarch,  urged  on 
to  his  destiny,  determined  to  strike  a  deadly  blow  at  the 
pride  and  the  commerce  of  England,  by  giving  an  effec- 
tual aid  to  her  revolted  colonies. 

The  question  soon  came  to  a  speedy  issue ;  an  unde- 
cisive engagement  with  the  French  fleet  in  the  Channel 
alarmed  and  irritated  England ;  every  prospect  of  accom- 
modation vanished ;  and  a  declaration  of  war  was  issued 
by  the  French  Government,  with  a  pompous  manifesto 
proclaiming  the  wanton  injuries  they  had  sustained  from 
Great  Britain. 

Plunged  into  destructive  warfare,  each  nation  used 
their  utmost  efforts  to  accomplish  their  respective  pur- 
poses. France,  determined  to  establish  the  independence 
of  America ;  while  England,  sought  to  reduce  her  colonies 
to  the  most  decisive  slavery.  A  transposition  of  national 
principles  seemed  to  have  been  adopted  by  the  Govern- 
ments of  both  countries — despotic  France  combating,  to 
establish  the  rights  of  civil  liberty — and  England  exerting 
all  her  energies,  to  enforce  a  system  of  tyrannic  govern- 
ment— the  one  marshalling  the  slaves  of  her  arbitrary 
power  to  batvle  in  the  cause  of  pure  democracy — the 
other  rallying  round  an  English  standard  the  hired  ner 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  43 

eenaries  of  German  avarice,  to  suppress  the  principles  of 
Britisii  freedom — and  both  Governments  soliciting  the 
aid  of  sanguinary  savages,  to  aggravate  the  horrors  of  a 
Christian  war  by  the  scalping-knife  and  the  tomahawk 
of  heathen  murderers. 

Europe  beheld  with  amazement  a  combat  so  unnatura, 
and  disgusting :  but  it  would  have  required  a  prophetic 
spirit,  to  have  then  foretold  that  the  French  throne  would 
be  eventually  overturned  by  the  principles  of  those  new 
allies,  and  would,  by  the  mighty  shock  of  its  fall,  shake 
even  the  foundations  of  the  British  constitution ;  though 
the  total  prostration  of  the  one,  and  the  ministerial 
inroads  upon  the  other,  would  *since  have  fully  justified 
the  hazard  of  that  prediction. 

V.  Amidst  the  confusion  incident  to  those  great  events, 
Ireland  yet  remained  unheeded  and  unthought  of:  her 
miseries  and  her  oppressions  had  hardly  engaged  the 
consideration  of  the  British  minister.  Meanwhile,  the 
Irish  people,  with  a  dignified  anxiety,  contemplated  the 
probable  termination  of  a  contest,  by  the  result  of  which 
their  own  destiny  must  be  determined.  The  subjugation 
of  America  might  confirm  the  dependence  of  Ireland; 
and  she  was  soon  convinced, — that  she  could  obtain  her 
own  constitutional  rights  from  Great  Britain  only  by  the 
complete  success  and  triumph  of  her  colony. 

Awaiting  therefore  the  decrees  of  Providence,  Ireland 
steadily  surveyed  the  distant  prospect  of  great  and  rival 
empires  wantonly  lavishing  the  blood  and  treasures  of 
their  people  in  a  contest  fundamentally  repugnant  to  their 
established  principles :  but — cautious,  moderate,  and  firm 
in  her  conduct — though  she  wisely  determined  to  avail 
herself  of  the  crisis  to  promote  the  establishment  of  her 
independence, — she  fed  the  flame  of  liberty,  she  kindled 
not  the  blaze  of  licentiousness  :  while  America  fought  to 
obtain  a  separation  from  Great  Britain,  Ireland  took  up 
arms  only  to  obtain  a  just  participation  of  her  constitution. 

To  embarrass  the  offensive  measures  of  England,  and 
make  a  formidable  diversion  in  favor  of  America,  France 
manifested  an  intention  of  invading  Ireland. — In  this 
alarming  emergency,  Great  Britain,  from  the  dispersions 
of  her  military  force,  scattered  into  many  distant  stations 
of  the  world,  and  so  numerously  employed  on  the  con^ 


§4  RISE    AND    FALL 

tinent  of  America,  found  it  impossible  to  afford  a  body  of 
regular  troops  sufficient  to  protect  Ireland  in  case  of 
such  invasion.  Here  let  us  for  a  moment  pause,  and 
dispassionately  reflect  upon  the  situation  of  Great  Britain 
and  the  conduct  of  Ireland  at  this  most  trying  moment : 
let  us  survey  the  increasing  imbecility  of  the  one,  and  the 
rising  enemies  of  the  other;  and  we  must — do  justice 
to  the  moderation  and  generosity  of  a  people,  whose  long 
and  grievous  oppressions,  if  they  could  not  have  justified, 
would  at  least  have  palliated,  a  very  different  proceeding. 

The  state  of  England  during  this  war  became  every 
day  more  difficult  and  distressing.  A  discontented  people, 
and  an  unpopular  ministry — an  empty  treasury,  and  a 
grievous  taxation — a  continental  war,  and  a  colonial 
rebellion — together  formed  an  accumulation  of  embar- 
rassment, such  as  Great  Britain  had  never  before  expe- 
rienced. Her  forces  in  America  were  captured  or 
defeated :  her  fleets,  had  not  yet  attained  that  irresistible 
superiority  which  has  since  proved  the  only  protection  of 
the  British  Islands. — Ireland,  without  money,  militia,  or 
standing  army — without  ordinance  or  fortifications — 
almost  abandoned  by  England,  had  to  depend  solely  on 
the  spirit  and  resources  of  her  own  natives;  and  this 
critical  state  of  Ireland,  which  the  misconduct  of  Great 
Britain  herself  had  occasioned,  gave  the  first  rise  to  those 
celebrated  associations,  the  immediate  means  of  obtaining 
Irish  independence. 

Many  inducements  prevailed,  to  fill  the  ranks  of  these 
associations.  The  warlike  propensities  of  the  Irish  people, 
so  long  restrained — and  personal  attachment  to  their 
chiefs  and  leaders,  were  with  them  the  first  excitements : 
but  the  blending  of  ranks,  and  more  intimate  connexion 
of  the  people,  which  was  the  immediate  consequence  of  a 
general  military  system,  quickly  effected  an  extensive  and 
marked  revolution  in  the  minds  and  manners  of  the  entire 
nation — an  important  and  extraordinary  change,  of  which 
the  gradations  became  every  day  more  conspicuously 
discernible.  The  primary  stimulus  of  the  Irish  farmer 
was  only  that  which  he  felt  in  common  with  every 
other  animated  being — the  desire  of  self  preservation  :-— 
he  associated  against  invasion,  because  he  heard  that  il 
would  be  his  ruin:  but  his  intercourse  with  the  highei 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION  45 

ranks  opened  the  road  to  better  information.  Tims  he 
soon  learned  that  the  Irish  people  were  deprived  of  poli- 
tical rights,  and  that  his  country  had  endured  political 
injuries :  his  ideas  became  enlarged,  and  quickly  embraced 
more  numerous  and  prouder  objects ;  he  began,  for  the 
first  time,  to  know  his  own  importance  to  the  state ;  and, 
as  knowledge  advanced,  the  principles  of  constitutional 
independence  were  better  understood,  and  more  sedulously 
cultivated.  The  Irish  peasant  now  assumed  a  different 
rank,  and  a  higher  character  • — familiarised  with  arms, 
and  more  intimate  with  nis  superiors,  he  every  day  felt 
his  bve  of  liberty  increased:  the  spirit  at  lengtn  became 
general  enthusiastic ;  and,  in  less  time  than  could  have 
been  supposed  from  the  commencement  of  these  associa- 
tions, the  whole  surface  of  the  island  was  seen  covered 
with  a  self-raised  host  of  patriot  soldiers. 

VI.  In  the  formation  of  those  armed  associations,  the 
long-established  distinctions  between  the  Protestant  and 
the  Catholic  could  not  be  altogether  forgotten.  Many  of 
the  penal  laws  were  still  in  full  force ;  Catholics  were 
prohibited  by  statute  from  bearing  arms  in  Ireland  ;  and, 
from  the  rooted  prejudices  against  allowing  to  that  body 
any  civil  or  military  power  whatever,  strong  objections 
arose  to  their  admission  into  those  armed  bodies.  The 
Catholics,  however,  neither  took  offence  nor  even  showed 
any  jealousy  at  this  want  of  confidence,  on  the  contrary, 
with  their  money  and  their  exhortations,  they  zealously 
assisted  in  forwarding  those  very  associations  into  which 
they  themselves  had  not  admission.  Their  calmness  and 
their  patriotism  gained  them  many  friends,  and  a  relax- 
ation of  intolerance  appeared  rapidly  to  be  gaining  ground 
but  it  was  not  until  the  volunteers  had  assumed  a 
deliberative  capacity,  and  met  as  armed  citizens,  to  discuss 
political  questions,  that  the  necessity  of  uniting  the  whole 
population  of  the  country  in  the  cause  of  independence 
became  distinctly  obvious.  Those  who  foresaw  that  a 
general  association  of  the  Irish  people  was  essential  to 
the  attainment  of  their  constitutional  objects,  endeavoured 
to  reconcile  the  schisms  of  sectarian  jealousy  by  calm  and 
rational  observations ;  they  argued,  that  religious  feuda 
had,  in  all  countries,  proved  subversive  of  national  pros- 
perity, but  to  none  more  decidedly  fatal  than  to  modern 


40  RISE    AND    FALL 

Ireland ; — that  the  true  interest  of  the  Catholic  and  of 
the  Protestant  was  substantially  the  same,  they  breathed 
the  same  air,  tilled  the  same  soil,  and  had  equal  light* 
and  claims  to  the  participation  of  liberty,  that  they  were 
endowed  by  nature  with  equal  powers  and  faculties, 
intellectual  and  corporeal,  that  they  worshipped  the  same 
God,  the  truths  and  doctrines  of  revealed  religion  equally 
constituting  the  basis  of  their  social  duties,  and  the  foun- 
dation of  their  religious  tenets,  and  the  principles  of  virtue 
and  of  morality  being  equally  inculcated  from  their  pulpits, 
and  propagated  at  their  altars.  "  Why,  then,"  they  asked, 
"should  a  few  theological  subtilties,  whose  mysterious 
uncertainties  lay  far  beyond  the  reach  of  human  determi- 
nation, and  were  altogether  unnecessary  to  the  arrange- 
ments of  municipal  institutions,  why  should  they  distract 
a  nation  which,  to  become/ree  should  become  unanimous  ? 
why  should  they  excite  controversies  so  strongly  tainted 
with  fanatic  phrenzy,  that  no  personal  insult  or  aggravated 
injury,  no  breach  of  moral  tie  or  of  honorable  contract, 
could  rouse  rancor  more  acrimonious,  or  animosity  more 
unrelenting,  than  that  which  originated  solely  from 
theoretic  distinctions  upon  inexplicable  subjects?  as  if 
Irishmen  were  bound  to  promote  the  happiness  of  their 
neighbours  in  a  future  state,  by  destroying  their  comforts 
and  disturbing  their  tranquillity  in  the  present ! " 

It  was  also  observed,  that,  although  this  strange  insanity 
might  have  existed  in  remote  and  dark  ages,  when  the 
disciples  of  every  new  sect  proclaimed  themselves  the 
meritorious  murderers  of  the  old,  when  Christian  chiefs 
assailed  the  pagan  power,  only  to  make  new  proselytes  to 
their  own  errors,  and  victims  to  their  own  intolerance,  and 
though,  in  such  unhappy  times,  Ireland  might  have  par- 
taken of  the  general  madness,  and,  without  peculiar 
disgrace,  have  participated  in  the  infirmities  of  Europe, 
yet,  when  the  progress  of  civilization  had  opened  the  eyes 
and  enlarged  the  understanding  of  the  people,  when  the 
voice  of  rational  liberty  loudly  called  for  the  unanimous 
exertion  of  every  sect  in  the  common  cause  of  indepen- 
dence, it  was  full  time  to  discard  those  destructive  pre- 
judices, which  had  so  long  and  so  effectually  restrained 
the  rights  and  retarded  the  prosperity  of  the  Irish  nation. 

Nor  can  any  historic  incident  more  clearly  illustrate 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  47 

tt*>  inestimable  value  of  unanimity  to  an  oppressed  people, 
than  a  contrasted  exhibition  of  the  independent  spirit 
displayed  by  the  Catholics  in  1782,  when  they  acquired  a 
constitution  by  their  firmness,  and  of  their  degenerate 
conduct  in  1800,  when  they  lost  that  constitution  through 
their  divisions  and  their  servility. 

VII.  Before  the  progress  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  is  par 
ticularly  detailed,  or  the  ultimate  objects  which  they 
had  in  view,  the  genuine  character  of  the  people  among 
whom  so  extraordinary  an  association  originated,  should 
be  clearly  developed  and  perfectly  understood ;  as  many 
important  events  in  Irish  history  would  appear  obscure 
and  unaccountable,  without  a  due  knowledge  of  the 
national  character — a  character,  ever  misconceived  or 
misrepresented  in  England,  because  the  persons  by  whom 
the  picture  was  drawn  were  generally  either  too  ignorant 
or  two  interested  to  draw  it  with  fidelity,  arft}  so  little  of 
intimate  intercourse  had  subsisted  between  the  two 
countries,  that  the  people  of  England  were  in  general  as 
unacquainted  with  the  real  dispositions  and  habits  of  the 
Irish,  as  with  those  of  any  nation  upon  the  European 
continent. 

It  was  therefore  impossible  that  England  should  judi- 
ciously govern  a  people  with  whose  feelings  she  was  wont 
to  trifle,  and  with  whose  natural  character  she  was  so 
imperfectly  acquainted,  nor  can  she  ever  effectually 
acquire  that  knowledge,  until  she  is  convinced  that  Ireland 
though  formed  by  nature  for  her  sister,  was  never  intend- 
ed for  her  servant — and  that,  within  her  own  bosom,  »he 
|K)ssesses  powers,  treasures,  and  resources,  yet  unexplored 
by  England,  but  which,  if  kindly  cultivated  and  liberally 
encouraged,  would  contribute  more  strength  and  benefit 
to  both  than  Great  Britain  has  ever  heretofore  derived,  or 
ever  yet  merited  from  the  connexion. 

To  attain  a  just  conception  of  the  remote  causes  of  two 
great  and  repugnant  revolutions  in  Ireland  within  eighteen 
years,  we  must  view  the  ranks  of  which  society  is  there 
composed,  as  well  as  their  proportions  and  their  influence 
on  each  other  ;  and,  in  the  peculiarities  and  ardency  of 
that  character,  will  be  clearly  discovered  the  true  sources 
of  many  extraordinary  events;  it  will  evidently  appear 
tk. it,  to  the  loibles  of  that  unfortunate  nation    worked 


€8  RISE    AND   rALL 

upon  by  art,  and  imposed  upon  by  policy,  and  not  to 
native  crimes  or  peculiar  views,  are  attributable  the  fre- 
quency of  her  miseries  and  the  consummation  of  hei 
misfortune. 

VIII.  The  Irish  people  have  been  as  little  known,  as 
vhey  have  been  grossly  defamed  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 

The  lengths  to  which  English  writers  have  proceeded 
in  pursuit  of  this  object  would  surpass  all  belief,  were  not 
the  facts  proved  by  histories  written  under  the  immediate 
eye  and  sanction  of  Irish  Governments,  histories  replete 
with  falsehood,  which,  combined  with  the  still  more  mis- 
chievous misrepresentations  of  modern  writers,  form  all 
together  a  mass  of  the  most  cruel  calumnies  that  ever 
weighed  down  the  character  of  a  meritorious  people. 

This  system,  however,  was  not  without  its  meaning. 
From  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  policy  of  England  has 
been  to  keep  Ireland  in  a  state  of  internal  division  perfect 
unanimity  among  her  inhabitants  has  been  considered  as 
likely  to  give  her  a  population  and  a  power  incompatible 
with  subjection,  and  there  are  not  wanting  natives  of 
Ireland,  who,  impressed  with  that  erroneous  idea  zealously 
plunge  into  the  same  doctrine,  as  if  they  could  best  prove 
their  loyalty  to  the  King  by  vilifying  their  country. 

IX.  The  Irish  peasantry,  who  necessarily  composed  the 
great  body  of  the  population,  combined  in  their  character 
many  of  those  singular  and  repugnant  qualities  which 
peculiarly  designate  the  people  of  different  nations  ;  and 
this  remarkable  contrariety  of  characteristic  traits  per- 
vaded almost  the  whole  current  of  their  natural  dispo- 
sitions. Laborious,  domestic,  accustomed  to  wants  in  the 
midst  of  plenty,  they  submit  to  hardships  without  re- 
pining, and  bear  the  severest  privations  with  stoic  forti- 
tude. The  sharpest  wit,  and  the  shrewdest  subtilty, 
which  abound  in  the  character  of  the  Irish  peasant, 
generally  lie  concealed  under  the  semblance  of  dulness, 
or  the  appearance  of  simplicity;  and  his  language,  re- 
plbte  with  the  keenest  humour,  possesses  an  idiom  of 
eqaivocation,  which  never  fails  successfully  to  evade  a 
duect  answer  to  an  unwelcome  question. 

Inquisitive,  artful,  and  penetrating,  the  Irish  peasant 
learns  mankind  without  extensive  intercourse  and  has  an 
instinctive  knowledge  of  the  world,  without  mingling  in 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  49 

its  societies,  and  never,  in  any  other  instance  did  there 
exist  a  people  who  could  display  so  much  address  and  so 
much  talent  in  the  ordinary  transactions  of  life  as  the 
Irish  peasantry. 

The  Irish  peasant  has,  at  all  periods,  been  peculiarly 
distinguished  for  unbounded  but  indiscriminate  hospital- 
ity, which,  though  naturally  devoted  to  the  necessities  of 
a  friend,  is  never  denied  by  him  even  to  the  distresses  of 
an  enemy.  *  To  be  in  want  or  misery,  is  the  best  recom- 
mendation to  his  disinterested  protection  ;  his  food,  his  bed, 
his  raiment  are  equally  the  strangers  and  his  own  ;  and 
the  deeper  the  distress,  the  more  welcome  is  the  sufferer 
to  the  peasant's  cottage. 

His  attachments  to  his  kindred  are  of  the  strongest 
nature.  The  social  duties  are  intimately  blended  with  the 
natural  disposition  of  an  Irish  peasant  though  covered 
with  rags,  oppressed  with  poverty,  and  perhaps  with 
hunger,  the  finest  specimens  of  generosity  and  heroism 
are  to  be  found  in  his  unequalled  character. 

A  martial  spirit  and  a  love  of  desultory  warfare  is 
indigenous  to  the  Irish  people.  Battle  is  their  pastime  ; 
whole  parishes  and  districts  form  themselves  into  parties, 
which  they  denominate  factions  ;  they  meet  by  appoint- 
ment at  their  country  fairs,  there  they  quarrel  without  a 
cause,  and  fight  without  an  object,  and  having  indulged 
their  propensity  and  bound  up  their  wounds,  they  return 
satisfied  to  their  own  homes,  generally  without  anger,  and 
frequently  in  perfect  friendship  with  each  other,  t     It  is  a 

•  It  has  been  remarked  that  the  English  and  Irish  people  form  their 
judgment  of  strangers  very  differenlly : — an  Englishman  suspects  a  stran- 
ger to  be  a  rogue,  till  he  finds  that  he  is  an  honest  man ;  the  Irishman 
conceives  every  person  to  be  an  honest  man,  till  he  finds  him  out  to  be  a 
rogue ;  and  this  accounts  for  the  very  striking  difference  in  their  conduct 
and  hospitality  to  strangers. 

f  Natural  cruelty  has  been  imputed  to  the  Irish  peasant  by  persons 
wh<«  either  are  unacquainted  with  his  character,  or  wish  to  misrepresent 
it  National  character  can  never  be  drawn  with  justice  from  incidents 
wnich  take  place  amidst  all  the  rage  and  violence  of  civil  war  or  reli- 
gious phrensy.  The  barbarities,  committed  in  Ireland  during  the  insur- 
rection of  1798,  were  not  all  on  the  one  side  :  and  at  least  as  many  per- 
sons were  sacrificed  in  cold  blood  by  the  musket  or  sabre  of  the  soldiery, 
as  by  the  pike  or  blunderbuss  of  the  insurgent.  But  all  those  enormitief 
are  incidental  to  civil  wars,  and  should  never  be  brought  up  as  a  crite- 
rion, whereby  to  judge  of  the  national  character  of  any  people      In  Kng- 

R 


5fl  RISE    AND   FALL 

melancholy  reflection,  that  the  successive  Governments  of 
Ireland  should  have  been  so  long  and  so  obstinately  blind 
to  the  real  interest  of  the  country,  as  to  conceive  it  more 
expedient  to  attempt  the  fruitless  task  of  suppressing  the 
national  spirit  by  legal  severity,  and  penal  enactments 
than  to  adopt  a  system  of  national  instruction  and  gen- 
eral industry  which,  by  affording  employment  to  their 
faculties,  might  give  to  the  minds  of  the  people  a  proper 
tendency,  and  a  useful  and  peaceable  direction. 

In  general,  the  Irish  are  rather  impetuously  brave,  than 
steadily  persevering :  their  onsets  are  furious,  and  their  re- 
treats precipitate  :  but  even  death  has  for  them  no  terrors, 
when  they  firmly  believe  that  their  cause  is  meritorious. 
Though  exquisitely  artful  in  the  stratagems  of  warfare, 
yet,  when  actually  in  battle,  their  discretion  vanishes 
before  their  impetuosity ;  and — the  most  gregarious  peo- 
ple under  heaven — they  rush  forward  in  a  crowd  with 
tumultuous  ardor,  and  without  foresight  or  reflexion 
whether  they  are  advancing  to  destruction  or  to  victory. 

An  enthusiastic  attachment  to  the  place  of  their  nativity 
is  another  striking  trait  of  the  Irish  character,  which 
neither  time  nor  absence,  prosperity  nor  adversity,  can 
obliterate  or  diminish.  Wherever  an  Irish  peasant  was 
born,  there  he  wishes  to  die ;  and,  however  successful  in 
acquiring  wealth  or  rank  in  distant  places,  he  returns 
with  fond  affection  to  renew  his  intercourse  with  the 
friends  and  companions  of  his  youth  and  his  obscurity. 

An  innate  spirit  of  insubordination  to  the  laws  has  been 
strongly  charged  upon  the  Irish  peasantry :  but  a  people — 
to  whom  the  punishment  of  crimes  appears  rather  as  a 
sacrifice  to  revenge  than  a  measure  of  prevention — can 
never  have  the  same  deference  to  the  law,  as  those  who 
are  instructed  in  the  principles  of  justice,  and  taught  to 

land,  during  a  peaceable  year  (1794,)  two  hundred  and  eighteen  person* 
received  sentence  of  death,  of  whom  forty-four  were  for  murder.  Id 
Ireland,  during  a  troublesome  year  (1797,)  eighty-seven  received  sen 
lence  of  death,  of  whom  only  eighteen  were  lor  murder :  so  that  Eng 
land  committed  her  full  proportion  of  crimes  and  more  than  her  p»opor 
lion  of  murders ;  which  does  not  substantiate  the  charge  of  cruelty,  witf 
which  the  Irish  character  has  been  exclusively  aspersed.  ^  The  muirten 
in  Ireland,  moreover,  are  very  different  from  those  in  England :  manj 
sawders  in  Ireland  occur  in  the  heat  of  their  battles:  most  of  thof«  J 
Lnglanu  art-  perpetrated  in  cold  blood  and  on  women 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  51 

recognise  its  equality.  It  has,  however,  been  uniformly 
admitted  by  every  impartial  writer  on  the  affairs  of  Ire- 
land, that  a  spirit  of  strict  justice  has  ever  characterised 
the  Irish  peasant.*  Convince  him,  by  plain  and  impartial 
reasoning,  that  he  is  wrong  ;  and  he  withdraws  from  the 
judgment-seat,  if  not  with  cheerfulness,  at  least  with  sub- 
mission :  but,  to  make  him  respect  the  laws,  he  must  be 
satisfied  that  they  are  impartial :  and,  with  that  conviction 
on  his  mind,  the  Irish  peasant  is  as  perfectly  tractable,  as 
the  native  of  any  other  country  in  the  world. 

An  attachment  to,  and  a  respect  for  females  is  another 
marked  characteristic  of  the  Irish  peasant.  The  wife 
partakes  of  all  her  husband's  vicissitudes :  she  shares  his 
labor  and  his  miseries,  with  constancy  and  with  affection. 
At  all  the  sports  and  meetings  of  the  Irish  peasantry,  the 
women  are  always  of  the  company :  they  have  a  great 
influence  ;  and,  in  his  smoky  cottage,  the  Irish  peasant, 
surrounded  by  his  family,  seems  to  forget  all  his  privations. 
The  natural  cheerfulness  of  his  disposition  banishes 
reflexion  ;  and  he  experiences  a  simple  happiness,  which 
even  the  highest  ranks  of  society  might  justly  envy. 

X.  The  middle  class  of  gentry,  interspersed  throughout 
the  country  parts  of  the  kingdom,  possessed  as  much  of 
the  peasant  character  as  accorded  with  more  liberal 
minds  and  superior  society.  With  less  necessity  for  ex- 
ertion than  the  peasant,  and  an  equal  inclination  for  the 
indulgence  of  indolence,  their  habits  were  altogether  de- 
void of  industry,  and  adverse  to  reflexion : — the  morning 
chase  and  evening  conviviality  composed  the  diary  of 
their  lives,  cherished  the  thoughtlessness  of  their  nature, 
and  banished  the  cares  and  solicitudes  of  foresight.  They 
uniformly  lived  beyond  their  means,  and  aspired  beyond 
their  resources  :  pecuniary  embarrassment  only  gave  a 
new  zest  to  the  dissipation  which  created  it ;  and  the 
gentry  of  Ireland  at  this  period  had  more  troubles  and 
fewer  cares  than  any  gentry  in  the  universe. 

These  habits,  however,  while  they  contracted  the  di* 

*  Sir  John  Davis,  Attorney  General  of  Ireland,  who,  in  the  reign  oi 
James  the  First,  was  employed  by  the  King  to  establish  the  English  lawi 
throughout  Ireland,  and  who  made  himself  perfectly  acquainted  with  the 
character  of  the  inhabitants,  admits  that  "  there  were  no  people  und« 
heave*,  who  loved  equal  and  impartial  justice  better  than  the  Irish  " 


533  RISE    AND    FALL 

tance  between  the  lower  and  the  superior  order,  had  alafl 
the  effect  of  promoting  their  mutual  good-will  and  at 
tachment  to  each  other.  The  peasant  looked  up  to  and 
admired,  in  the  country  gentleman,  those  propensities 
which  he  himself  possessed : — actuated  by  a  native  sym- 
pathy of  disposition,  he  loved  old  customs ;  he  liked  to 
follow  the  track  and  example  of  his  forefathers,  and 
adhered  to  the  fortunes  of  some  ancient  family,  with  a 
zealous  sincerity ;  and,  in  every  matter  of  party  or  of 
faction,  he  obeyed  the  orders  of  his  landlord,  and  even 
anticipated  his  wishes,  with  cheerfulness  and  humility. 

The  Irish  country  gentleman,  without  either  the  ties 
of  blood  or  the  weight  of  feudal  authority,  found  himself 
surrounded  by  followers  and  adherents  ever  ready  to 
adopt  his  cause,  and  risk  their  lives  for  his  purposes, 
with  as  warm  devotion  as  those  of  the  Scottish  laird  or 
the  highland  chieftain ;  and  this  disposition,  cultivated 
by  family  pride  on  the  one  side,  and  confirmed  by  imme- 
morial habit  on  the  other,  greatly  promoted  the  formation, 
the  progress,  and  the  zeal,  of  those  armed  associations 
which  soon  afterwards  covered  the  face  of  trie  country, 
and  for  a  moment  placed  the  name  of  Ireland  on  the 
very  highest  pinnacle  of  affective  patriotism. 

It  was  the  fashion  of  those  days  to  cast  upon  the  Irish 
gentry  an  imputation,  it  would  be  uncandid  not  to  admit 
that  there  was  some  partial  ground  for  it,  that  they 
showed  a  disposition  to  decide  petty  differences  by  the 
sword,  and  too  fastidious  a  construction  of  what  they 
termed  the  "point  of  honor."  This  practice  certainly 
continued  to  prevail  in  many  parts  of  Ireland,  where 
time  and  general  intercourse  had  not  yet  succeeded  in  ex- 
tinguishing the  romantic  but  honorable  spirit  of  Milesian 
chivalry :  and,  when  we  reflect  on  the  natural  warlike 
disposition  of  the  Irish  people,  that  indigenous  impetuosity 
and  love  of  battle  which  so  eminently  distinguished  their 
aboriginal  character,  it  is  not  surprising  that  hasty  and 
unnecessary  encounters  should  occasionally  occur  among 
a  people  perpetually  actuated  by  the  pride  of  ancestry 
and  the  theories  of  honor.  But,  even  in  these  contests, 
the  Irish  gentleman  forgave  his  adversary  with  as  miich 
readiness  as  he  fought  him:  he  respected  the  courage 
which  aimed  at  his  own  life ;  and  the  strongest  friendship* 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  53 

were  sometimes  formed,  and  frequently  regent  .lated,  on 
the  field  of  battle.  It  is  natural  to  suppose  that  this 
practice  should  have  been  exaggerated,  by  the  English 
people,  whom  nature  had  endowed  with  less  punctilious 
and  much  more  discreet  propensities. 

The  cowardly  crime  of  suicide,  which  prevailed  and 
prevails  in  England,  was  scarcely  ever  known  among  the 
Irish.  Circumstances,  which  would  plunge  an  English- 
man into  a  state  of  mortal  despodency,  would  only  rouse 
the  energies  of  an  Irishman  to  bound  over  his  misfor- 
tunes :  * — under  every  pressure,  in  every  station,  and  in 
every  climate,  a  lightness  of  heart  and  openness  of  dis- 
position distinguishes  him  from  the  inhabitants  of  every 
other  country. 

On  the  whole  of  their  characters,  the  Irish  gentry, 
though  far  from  being  faultless,  had  many  noble  qualities : 
— generous,  hospitable,  friendly,  brave — but  careless,  pro- 
digal, and  indiscreet — they  possessed  the  materials  of 
distinguished  men  with  the  propensities  of  obscure  ones, 
and,  by  their  openness  and  sincerity,  too  frequently  became 
the  dupes  of  artifice,  and  the  victims  of  dissimulation. 

Among  the  highest  orders  of  the  Irish  people,  the  dis- 
tinguishing features  of  national  character  had  been  long 
wearing  away,  and  becoming  less  prominent  and  remark- 
able. The  manners  of  the  nobility,  in  almost  every 
European  country,  verge  to  one  common  centre :  by  the 
similarity  of  their  education  and  society,  they  acquire 
similar  habits;  and  a  constant  intercourse  with  courts 
clothes  their  address  and  language,  as  it  does  their  per- 
sons, in  one  peculiar  garb — disguising  the  strong  points, 
and  concealing  the  native  traits,  of  their  original  characters. 

The  unprecedented  expenses  of  the  American  war, 
which  first  familiarised  the  English  people  to  empty  their 
purses  for  the  support  of  unnecessary  and  inglorious 
warfare  (in  which  they  have  since  become  such  extra- 
ordinary proficients,)  called  every  day  for  new  resources ; 

*  The  Irish  people  have  been  accused  of  frequently  committing  what 
are  termed  blunders,  or  perverted  phraseology :  but  many  sayings,  which 
have  acquired  that  name,  are  in  fact  the  aphorisms  of  sound  sense,  and 
itrongwitted  observation.  The  Irishman's  remark,  that  "  he  would 
lather  commit  suicide  on  anyone  than  himself"  would  puzzle  the  inge- 
nuity of  a  moral  casuist,  and  places  the  crime  of  self-murder  in  a  ?ery 
Uncertain  rank  of  homic  iile. 

y 


54  RISE    AND    PALL 

and  the  minister  conceived  and  executed  the  artful  project 
of  increasing  his  financial  means  and  parliamentary  powei 
by  erecting  a  banking  and  commercial  interest  on  the 
Bite  and  ruins  of  the  landed  representation.  Money  bro- 
kers— began  to  constitute  a  new  order  in  the  state,  and 
to  form,  if  not  an  integral  part,  at  least  a  necessary 
appendage  to  every  subsequent  administration  of  Great 
Britain. 

Experience  has  proved  the  mischiefs  of  that  fatal  policy 
to  the  whole  of  the  empire. 

Though  the  greater  number  of  the  Irish  noblemen 
had  been  of  remote  creations — a  few  had  not  been  long 
enough  removed  from  the  mass  of  the  community  to  have 
acquired  very  high  ideas  of  hereditary  pride,  or  to  have 
emblazoned  the  shield  of  very  ancient  or  illustrious 
pedigrees. 

As  a  body,  the  Irish  lords  were  not  peculiarly  prominent 
in  the  affairs  of  their  country :  but  they  were  dignified. 
Their  debates  (until  the  accession  of  Lord  Clare)  were 
calm  and  temperate  ;  and,  though,  like  the  members  of  all 
other  political  assemblies,  they  were  individually  various  in 
talent  and  in  character,  the  appearance  of  the  whole  was 
grand ;  and  their  conduct,  if  not  spirited,  was  firm,  res- 
pectabxe  and  decorous. 

The  Protestant  church  had  great  weight  in  the  com- 
munity :  the  hierarchy,  participating  in  the  dignity  of  an 
independent  parliament,  possessed  the  united  inLuence 
of  spiritual  rank  and  legislative  importance:  the  parochial 
clergy,  though  well  affected  to  the  state,  still  adhered  to 
the  interests  of  their  country,  and,  assuming  a  deportment 
decorous  and  characteristic,  were,  at  that  time,  generally 
esteemed,  and  deservedly  respected. 

The  provision  of  the  inferior  Protestant  clergy  was 
then  (as  at  present)  quite  disproportioned  to  their  duties 
and  their  profession.  Many  of  that  meritorious  class  of 
men,  the  officiating  curates,  whone  precepts  and  example 
were  to  direct  the  morals  and  guide  the  conduct  of  the 
people,  had  become  grey  in  poveity,  and,  labouring  under 
the  pressure  of  severe  necessities,  effectually  preached  up 
to  their  congregations  the  exercise  of  that  charity,  which 
would  have  been  aptly  and  benevolently  applied  to  theii 
t«rn  persons. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  66 

The  general  conduct  of  these  men  had  at  all  times 
remained  unexceptionable.  From  them  the  character  of 
the  Irish  clergy  was  best  to  be  collected ;  the  luxurious 
possessor  of  sinecure  and  plurality,  enjoying  ease  and 
abundance  without  care  or  solicitude,  must  form  a  very 
inferior  criterion  of  experienced  merit,  when  compared  to 
the  distressed  pastor,  whose  conduct  remains  exemplary, 
while  his  indigence  and  necessities  might  have  tempted 
him  into  errors.  The  extremes  of  income  among  the 
Protestant  clergy  were  too  distant,  their  wealth  and  their 
poverty  formed  too  strong  a  contrast. 

The  Catholic  clergy  had  then  an  unlimited  influence 
over  the  people  of  their  own  persuasion.  Though  the 
cruel  impolicy  of  the  penal  statutes  had  not  been 
altogether  set  aside,  they  remained  dutiful  and  obedient 
to  the  sovereign  power,  cheerfully  submissive  to  the 
existing  laws,  and  friendly  and  affectionate  to  their  Pro- 
testant fellow-subjects. 

Candidates  for  Catholic  ordination  were  sent  to  France 
for  spiritual  instruction,  and  returned  to  their  own  country 
though  learned,  still  retaining  many  of  the  propensities 
of  their  origin,  they  showed  that  their  respect  to  supe- 
rior rank,  and  submission  to  the  constituted  authorities, 
were  rather  increased  than  diminished  by  their  foreign 
education. 

The  monarchy  of  France,  despotic,  splendid,  and 
powerful,  was  at  that  time  regarded  with  devotion  by  the 
French  people,  as  a  structure  which  neither  time  could 
destroy,  nor  tempests  endanger.  Its  broad  base  covered 
every  portion  of  the  people ;  its  stupendous  height  was 
surveyed  with  awe,  and  its  colossal  strength  beheld  with 
admiration.  The  ecclesiastical  communities,  fostered 
under  its  shelter,  experienced  the  protection  of  despotic 
power,  and,  by  their  doctrines  and  their  practice  endea- 
voured to  increase  its  strength,  and  secure  its  perma- 
nence. 

The  Irish  student,  early  imbibing  those  monastic  prin- 
ciples was  taught  at  Saint  Omer  the  advantages  of  unde- 
fined power  in  a  king,  and  of  passive  obedience  in  a 
subject ;  he  was  there  instructed  to  worship  a  throne,  and 
to  mingle  his  devotion  to  heaven  and  to  monarchy.  The 
restoration  of  a  Catholic  king  over  Ireland  had  long 


Ot  RISE    AND    PALL 

censed  to  be  practicable,  such  projects;  therefore,  were 
hopeless,  and  relinquished  ;  and  the  Irish  Catholic  clergy- 
man, however  he  might  naturally  have  wished  for  the 
regal  supremacy  of  his  own  sect,  had  long  since  abandon- 
ed every  view  of  an  object  altogether  unattainable. 

British  supremacy  had  then  no  overt  enemies,  save  its 
own  ministers,  nor  any  conspiracies  against  its  power,  but 
ihe  arbitrary  determinations  of  its  own  cabinet. 

Thus  returning  from  his  noviciate,  and  educated  with 
all  the  dispositions  of  a  submissive  subject  he  found  his 
native  country  in  a  state  of  profound  tranquillity.  His 
views  were  contracted ;  his  ambition  extended  no  further 
than  the  affections  of  his  flock,  and  the  enjoyments  of 
society.  The  closest  intimacy  subsisted  between  him  and 
his  parishioners,  he  mingled  in  all  their  pastimes,  and 
consoled  them  in  their  miseries ;  but  the  most  convivial 
among  them  knew  how  to  distinguish  clearly  between  the 
occasional  familiarities  of  personal  intercourse,  and  a 
dutiful  respect  for  his  religious  functions;  and,  even 
though  their  companion  might  have  been  condemned, 
their  priest  was  always  sure  to  be  respected. 

The  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  at  the  same  time 
lived  in  habits  of  great  harmony ;  they  harboured  no 
animosities  or  indisposition  toward  each  other;  the 
one  governed  without  opposition,  the  other  submitted 
without  resistance;  and  the  Catholic  clergy  had  every 
inclination  to  retain  their  flock  within  proper  limits  and 
found  no  difficulty  in  effecting  that  object. 

The  severity  with  which  the  agenrs  of  the  Protestant 
clergy  in  some  parishes  collected  their  tithes,  and  the 
exactions  and  oppressions,  which  the  middle-man  exercised 
over  the  occupant  of  the  land,  occasionally  excited 
partial  disturbances ;  but,  in  these,  there  was  nothing  of 
a  revolutionary  nature;  they  were  only  the  nocturnal 
riots  of  some  oppressed  and  mismanaged  districts  which 
the  civil  power  in  general  found  no  difficulty  in  sup- 
pressing. 


THE    IRISH    NATION.  67 


CHAPTER    III 

belaud  awakened  to  a  sense  of  her  slavery — The  Irish  Parliament  totally 
independent  of  England — The  King  acknowledged  in  Ireland  through 
his  Irish  crown,  and  not  through  the  crown  of  England — Perilous  posi- 
tion of  England — Moderation  and  attachment  of  Ireland — Ireland  deter- 
mined to  demand  her  just  rights — Conspiracy  against  the  munufacturea 
of  Ireland — The  non-consumption  agreement  adopted  throughout  alJ 
Ireland — Progress  of  the  Volunteers — Their  principal  Leaders — Six 
John  Parnell — His  character — General  effects  of  volunteering  upon  the 
people  of  Ireland. 

I.  The  population  of  Ireland,  distributed  into  those 
classes,  endowed  with  those  qualities,  and  borne  down  by 
ait  accumulation  of  impolitic  and  ungenerous  restraints, 
at  length  awakened  as  it  were  from  a  deep  trance.  The 
pulse  of  that  nation,  torpid  through  habitual  oppression, 
began  to  throb ;  her  blood,  stimulated  by  the  stings  of 
injustice,  which  she  had  so  long  and  so  patiently  endured, 
circulated  with  a  new  rapidity ;  her  heart,  re-animated, 
sent  motion  and  energy  through  her  whole  frame ;  and 
from  a  cold  and  almost  lifeless  corse,  Ireland  was  seen 
majestically  arising  from  the  tomb  of  obscurity,  and  pay- 
ing the  first  tribute  of  her  devotion  at  the  shrine  of 
liberty. 

Roused  to  a  sense  of  her  miserable  situation,  she  cast 
her  eyes  around  on  the  independent  States  of  Europe, 
and  compared  their  strength,  their  capacity,  and  their  re- 
source^ with  her  own.  Encouraged  by  the  view  of  her 
comparative  superiority,  she  soon  perceived  that  she  had 
strength,  and  means,  and  opportunity  to  redress  herself 
from  the  wrongs  and  degradations  she  was  suffering  ;  and 
that  so  long  as  she  tolerated  the  authority  of  the  British 
Legislature  over  her  concerns,  so  long  her  commerce,  her 
constitution,  and  her  liberties,  must  lie  prostrate  at  the 
foot  of  every  British  minister. 

The  political  situations  of  both  nations  at  that  critical 
period,  afforded  a  more  than  common  scope  for  political 


58  rilSE    AND    FALL 

contemplation:  even  the  coldest  politicians  of  that  day 
were  led  involuntarily  to  reflect  on  the  nature  of  the 
federative  compact  between  the  two  countries,  and  could 
not  avoid  perceiving  the  total  absence  of  that  reciprocal 
good  faith  and  confidence  which  alone  could  ensure  the 
integrity  of  the  empire,  or  the  permanence  of  the  con- 
nexion. In  theory,  the  two  nations  were  linked  together 
by  the  strongest  ties  of  mutual  interest  and  mutual  secu- 
rity ;  but  in  practice  those  interests  were  separated,  and 
that  conjunction  of  strength,  on  which  the  security  of 
empires  must  at  all  times  depend  was  too  frequently  disre- 
garded, as  if  England  had  forgotten  that  she  owed  a  great 
proportion  of  stability  to  the  co-operation  of  the  Irish 
people,  and  that  if  one  hundred  thousand  Irish  subjects, 
who  fought  her  battles  in  her  armies  and  in  her  navy, 
became  even  neutralized,  by  insults  or  by  injuries,  to 
their  country,  the  English  nation  might  too  late  discover 
the  fatal  impolicy  of  her  system. 

II.  The  fundamental  principles  upon  which  the  connex- 
ion between  the  two  nations  was  intrinsically  founded, 
soon  became  a  subject  of  general  inquiry  and  universal 
discussion  amongst  every  rank  and  class  of  society ;  and 
it  required  but  little  difficulty  to  convey  to  the  quick  con- 
ception of  a  naturally  acute  and  intelligent  people,  a 
comprehensive  view  of  their  rights  and  of  their  depriva- 
tions. Nor  was  Ireland,  at  this  period,  destitute  of  able 
and  active  partisans,  anxious  and  competent  to  instruct 
her  people  in  language  best  adapted  to  impress  upon  the 
poignancy  of  their  national  feelings,  and  enlarge  the 
scope  of  their  poli^cal  understandings. 

They  were  told  by  those  instructors,  that  Ireland  was 
constitutionally  connected  with  Great  Britain,  upon  the 
basis  of  a  complete  equality  of  rights,  that  she  possessed 
a  resident  Parliament  of  her  own,  competent,  in  all 
points,  to  legislate  on  her  own  concerns,  in  no  point  con- 
nected  with,  or  subordinate  to,  that  of  Great  Britain. 

That  their  king  was  bound  to  govern  Ireland,  not 
through  his  crown  of  England,  but  through  his  crown  of 
Ireland — conferred  upon  him  by  the  Irish  nation,  and 
worn  by  him,  in  conjunction  with  that  of  Great  Britain, 
as  the  chief  magistrate  of  both — tut  to  govern  each 
country  severally  by  their  respective  laws  and  their  dis 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  59 

tinct  legislatures,  and  not  the  one  through  the  other ;  and 
though  the  Irish  crown  was,  by  the  constitution  of  that 
country,  placed  ibr  ever  on  the  head  of  the  same  legiti- 
mate monarch  who  should  wear  that  of  England  ;  yet  the 
Irish  people  were  not  legally  bound  to  obey  any  laws  but 
those  enacted  by  their  own  legislature,  to  transfer  the 
sceptre  of  their  realm  to  any  usurped  authority,  or  sub- 
mit to  the  hostile  or  corrupt  policy  of  any  minister  who 
might  occasionally  occupy  the  seat  of  power  in  England ; 
that  their  oath  of  allegiance  was  taken  to  the  king  of  Ire* 
land,  and  not  to  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain ;  that 
the  establishment  of  this  principle  was  indispensable  to 
their  existence  as  a  nation,  and  that  every  violation  of  it 
was  a  direct  deviation  from  the  duty  of  the  Irish  crown, 
and  a.  virtual  dereliction  of  the  compact  between  the  two 
countries ;  and  that  the  king's  ministers  of  either  country 
advising  unconstitutional  measures,  to  violate  the  consti- 
tutional independence  of  Ireland,  must  be  considered  as 
traitors  to  the  Irish  crown,  and  enemies  to  the  British 
empire. 

It  was  also  observed,  that  this  assumption  of  authority 
to  legislate  for  Ireland,  whatever  colouring  it  might  have 
received  by  the  dissimulation  or  ingenuity  of  its  support- 
ers, had,  in  fact,  for  its  real  object  the  restraint  of  her 
commerce  and  the  suppression  of  her  manufactures,  so 
far  as  they  might  interfere  with  the  interests  of  England ; 
because  the  management  of  the  mere  local  concerns  of 
Ireland  by  her  own  parliament  was  altogether  immaterial 
to  Great  Britain,  unless  where  a  commercial  rivalship 
might  be  the  probable  consequence  of  successful  industry 
and  legislative  encouragement. 

From  this  reasoning,  it  was  obvious  that  the  redress  of 
these  grievances  could  not  depend  solely  upon  any  exer- 
tions of  the  Irish  legislature.  The  Peers — from  the 
causes  herein  before  assigned — were  influenced  at  that 
time  by  a  very  small  portion  of  public  feeling;  the 
measures  of  the  Commons  might  be  suppressed  by  an  act 
of  the  Privy  Gouncil ;  and  it  Wame  manifest,  that  an 
universal  and  determined  co-operation  cf  th&  whole  people 
with  their  representatives,  to  rescue  their  representation, 
by  vigorous  measures,  could  alone  operate  with  sufficient 
effect  upon  the  policy  and  fears  of  England :  and  that  a 


50  RISE    AND    FALL 

general  appeal  to  the  people  would  be  jut  fined  by  the 
soundest  axioms  of  civil  government — as  long  experience 
had  fully  ascertained,  that  nothing  was  to  be  gained  by 
the  forbearance  of  the  one  nation,  or  to  be  expected  from 
the  voluntary  justice  of  the  other. 

The  Irish  people  being  thus  apprised  of  the  real  source 
of  all  their  grievances,  the  subject  quickly  engrossed  their 
whole  thoughts,  and  became  familiar  to  their  understand- 
ings. A  new  and  broad  field  of  reflection  was  opened  to 
the  middle  orders  :  political  discussions  necessarily  fol- 
lowed from  day  to  day ;  at  every  public  and  private  meet- 
ing, and  in  every  district,  these  discussions  turned  on  the 
principles  of  liberty :  and  as  the  subject  expanded,  theii 
ideas  became  enlarged ;  those  who  could  read,  liberally 
instructed  the  illiterate  as  to  the  rudiments  of  their  his- 
tory and  the  rights  of  the  constitution  ;  and  by  familiar 
deductions,  the  misery  of  the  peasant  was  without  diffi- 
culty brought  home  to  the  corruption  of  the  ministers. 
All  ranks  of  the  community  began  to  mingle  and  con- 
verse at  their  public  meetings  ;  the  influence  of  that 
general  communication  diffused  itself  rapidly  amongst 
every  class  of  society  ;  and  the  people,  after  having  per- 
fectly ascertained  the  hardships  of  their  situation,  natu- 
rally proceeded  to  discuss  the  most  decisive  means  of  re- 
dressing their  grievances. 

III.  The  circumstances  of  public  affairs  in  America 
and  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  but  more  especially  in 
England  herself,  were  every  moment  becoming  more  and 
more  propitious  to  the  political  emancipation  of  Ireland. 
A  dark  cloud  appeared  collecting  over  the  head  of  Great 
Britain — the  rays  of  her  setting  sun  could  scarcely  pene- 
trate the  obscurity  of  the  gloom  which  surrounded  her — 
and  though  she  faced  the  impending  hurricane  with 
magnanimity  and  perseverance,  she  experienced  a  most 
anxious  solicitude  at  the  awful  crisis  which  was  rapidly 
approaching  her. 

Her  situation  was  terrific.  The  States  of  America, 
colonised  by  her  industry,  and  peopled  by  her  convicts, 
tearing  themselves  away  from  the  mothe]  country,  and 
appealing  to  the  whole  world  against  the  tyranny  which 
at  once  had  caused  and  justified  her  disobedience , 
British  armies  wandering  through  boundless  deserts,  and 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATIOH.  61 

associating  with  the  savage  tribes  for  savage  purposes, 
dwindling  by  their  victories,  and  diminishing  by  their 
conquests,  surrendering  their  swords  to  those  whom 
they  had  recently  vanquished,  and  lowering  the  flag  of 
England,  with  all  the  courtesies  of  continental  warfare, 
to  those  very  men  whom  the  preceding  moment  they 
had  proclaimed  as  traitors  to  their  king  and  to  then 
country.* 

However,  the  wise  and  deliberate  measures  which 
Ireland  on  this  occasion  adopted,  proved  not  only  her 
unshaken  fidelity,  but  her  moderation  and  her  unaffected 
attachment  to  Great  Britain.  She  saw  the  perilous  situ- 
ation of  her  sister  country ;  and  though  she  determined 
to  profit  by  the  crisis,  in  justly  reclaiming  her  commerce 
and  her  constitution,  she  also  determined  to  stand  or  fal 
with  the  British  empire,  and  to  share  the  fate  of  England 
in  the  tremendous  confederacies  which  were  formed  and 
were  forming  against  her. 

*  The  very  different  line  of  conduct  adopted  by  England  towards 
America  and  Ireland,  when  respectively  in  a  state  of  insurrection,  is 
very  remarkable.  The  Americans  (a  mere  colony)  united  with  French 
troops,  stood  in  open  rebellion,  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  final  separa- 
tion from  the  mother  country,  and  were  proclaimed  traitors  and  rebels  by 
the  King  and  Parliament ;  yet  they  uniformly  experienced  from  the  Bri- 
tish military  commanders  the  most  decorous  and  respectful  treatment 
Their  generals  were  addressed  by  their  appropriate  official  titles — theii 
military  rank  was  recognized  by  the  British  army — their  officers,  when 
taken,  were  admitted  on  their  parol  of  honour — and  their  prisoners  were 
treated  with  humanity  and  attention. 

The  Irish  experienced  a  very  different  conduct  in  1798,  when  imme- 
diate execution  was  generally  the  gentlest  punishment  inflicted  upon  the 
insurgents  of  every  rank,  office,  and  description,  and  the  laws  of  retalia- 
tion giving  rise  to  a  competition  of  barbarities,  deluged  the  whole  country 
in  blood,  extinguished  its  spirit,  divided  its  people,  and  destroyed  ita 
reputation 

"  To  persons  unacquainted  with  the  true  history  of  those  transactions, 
and  the-  project  of  the:  British  minister,  the  ambiguous  conduct  of  Lord 
Cornwallis  will  appear  altogether  inconsistent  and  unaccountable.  But 
the  difficulty  will  be  solved,  when  it  becomes  evident,  from  historic  facts, 
that,  without  that  general  horror,  depression,  and  dismay  which  the 
extent  and  continuance  of  those  mutual  barbarities  had  excited  through- 
out all  ranks  and  classes  of  people,  the  measure  of  a  Legislative  Union 
never  durst  have  been  proposed  to  Ireland,  and  that  this  terrific  sensa- 
tion was  critically  made  use  of.  as  the  strongest  instrument,  to  impo« 
that  measure  on  a  people  sunk  under  the  lassitude  of  civil  war,  smd  while 
m  search  of  peace,  forgetting  liberty 

6 


62  RISE    AND   FALL 

The  Irish  people  felt  that  they  had  a  double  duty  to 
perform — to  themselves,  and  to  their  posterity.  England 
herself  had  given  them  a  precedent.  She  had  proved  by 
the  experience  of  centuiies,  that  when  she  had  an  object 
to  achieve  in  Ireland,  she  had  never  been  restrained  by 
the  punctilious  dictates  either  of  honour  or  humanity,  and 
had  never  failed  to  take  advantage  of  the  feebleness  of 
Ireland  to  impose  the  grievous  weight  of  her  arbitrary 
restrictions ;  she  had,  at  all  periods,  systematically  en- 
couraged the  internal  dissensions  of  that  people,  the 
better  to  humble  them  for  the  yoke  which  she  had  al- 
ways been  ready  to  place  upon  their  country.  Ireland, 
therefore,  felt  that  she  would  be  justified  by  British  pre- 
cedent to  take  advantage  of  this  important  crisis,  and  that 
even  the  practical  principles  of  the  British  constitution 
had  declared  and  justified  the  right  of  popular  resistance. 
England  had,  upon  the  same  principle  of  resistance  to 
arbitrary  power,  attempted  to  justify  the  murder  of  one 
king,  and  the  deposition  of  another,  whilst  Ireland,  pre- 
ferring her  allegiance  to  her  policy,  remained  faithful  tc 
both,  and  was  rewarded  for  her  loyalty  by  massacre  and 
confiscation. 

However,  a  hasty  or  impetuous  resistance  of  the  Irish 
people,  even  to  the  most  arbitrary  acts  of  their  King  or 
of  their  Government,  was  by  no  means  a  principle  con- 
genial tu  their  political  character  ;  whilst  it  was  obvious 
to  the  whole  world  that  England  had  adopted  those 
violent  and  outrageous  proceedings  -against  her  own 
monarchs,  upon  principles  and  pretences  far  less  con- 
stitutional, and  more  inconsistent  with  her  liberties,  than 
the  measure?  and  conduct  which  had  been  wantonly  and 
systematically  practised  by  British  ministers  against  Irish 
freedom.  With  this  useful  and  awful  lesson  before  her 
eyes,  Ireland  wisely  considered  that  she  would  best  raise 
and  establish  her  national  character,  and  effect  her  just 
objects,  by  a  gradual  reassumption  of  her  rights,  and  a 
temperate  and  fair  demand  of  constitutional  liberty ;  that 
her  moderation  would  form  an  edifying  contrast  to  the 
violence  and  intemperance  of  England,  whenever  her 
liberties  were  invaded,  and  that  the  advantage  which  the 
embarrassed  state  of  Great  Britain  had  now  thrown  into 
the  hands  of  Ireland,  would  be  most  honourably  exer- 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  63 

cised  by  a  calm  and  loyal,  but  resoiute  and  effectual 
proceeding.  She  perceived,  however,  that  the  moment 
most  favourable  to  her  objects  had  arrived  ;  which,  if 
suffered  to  pass  b]7-  without  effort,  might  never  recur ; 
and  k  therefore  only  remained  to  Ireland  to  ascertain  the 
means  most  moderate  but  most  likely  to  call  Great  Bri- 
tain to  a  sense  of  reason  and  of  justice,  and  to  secure  to 
herself  the  attainment  of  her  rights,  without  the  danger 
of  hostile  convulsion,  or  the  horrors  of  civil  conflict. 

England,  notwithstanding  she  had  in  some  instances 
suspended,  and  in  others  prohibited,  the  exportation  of 
Irish  manufactures,  inundated  the  Irish  markets  with 
every  species  of  her  own  ;  and  with  a  view  effectually  to 
destroy  all  power  of  competition  in  Ireland,  the  great 
capitalists  of  England  determined,  even  at  any  loss,  to 
undersell  the  Irish  in  their  own  markets — a  loss,  how- 
ever which  they  thought  would  be  eventually  and  amply 
repaid  by  the  monopoly  which  must  necessarily  succeed 
the  utter  destruction  of  the  Irish  manufacture. 

This  system  it  was  impossible  for  the  Irish  manufac- 
turer to  resist  or  counteract ;  his  capital  was  too  small 
to  bear  the  losses  of  competition  ;  resistance  would  have 
been  vain  ;  he  had  therefore  no  alternative  but  to  change 
his  trade,  or  submit,  and  famish. 

It  depended  on  the  exertions  of  the  people  at  large  to 
resist  every  vicious  and  destructive  project ;  and  they 
lost  no  time  in  adopting  incipient  measures  of  resistance. 
With  this  view,  they  resolutely  determined  to  adopt  a  non- 
importation and  non-consumption  agreement  through- 
out the  whole  kingdom  ;  and  by  excluding  not  only  the 
importation,  but  the  consumption  of  any  British  manu- 
facture in  Ireland,  visited  bac-k  upon  the  English  combi- 
nators  the  ruin  of  their  own  treachery.  No  sooner  was 
this  measure  publicly  proposed,  than  it  was  universally 
adopted ;  it  flew  quicker  than  the  wind  throughout  the 
whole  nation  :  the  manufacturing  bodies,  the  corporate 
towns,  the  small  retailers,  the  general  merchants,  at  once 
universally  adopted  this  vigorous  determination,  and  the 
great  body  of  the  people,  by  general  resolutions,  and  uni- 
versal acclamations,  avowed  their  firm  determination  to 
support  the  measure,  till  they  should  acquire  a  restoration 
of  their  political  rights. 


54  RISE    AND   PALL 

IV.  Meanwhile,  the  armed  associations  hourly  gained 
strength  in  numbers  ;  they  began  to  acquire  the  appen- 
dages and  establishments  of  a  regular  army — discipline 
and  confidence  ;  and  gradually  consolidated  themselves 
into  regiments  and  brigades  :  some  procured  cannon  and 
field  equipages,  and  formed  companies  of  artillery ;  the 
completion  of  one  corps  stimulated  the  formation  of 
anotner,  and  at  length  almost  every  independent  Pro- 
testant of  Ireland  was  enrolled  as  a  patriot  soldier  ;  and 
the  whole  body  of  the  Catholics  declared  themselves  the 
decided  auxiliaries  of  their  armed  countrymen. 

This  extraordinary  armament — the  recollections  of 
which  will  for  ever  excite  in  Ireland  a  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  liberty,  which  neither  time  can  efface  nor  mis- 
fortunes extinguish — actuated  solely  by  the  pure  spirit  of 
incorruptible  patriotism,  and  signalized  by  a  conduct 
more  temperate  and  more  judicious,  than  had  ever  con- 
trolled the  acts  and  objects  of  any  military  body  in  the 
history  of  the  world. 

The  modern  military  corps,  which  have  been  skilfully, 
and  perhaps  wisely,  imbodied,  to  preclude  any  recur- 
rence to  the  measure  of  volunteering,  possess  no  analogy 
to  these  celebrated  associations,  save  that  the  loyalty  of 
the  Volunteers  was  to  their  country  and  their  King — the 
loyalty  of  the  Yeomen,  to  the  King  of  England  and  to 
his  Ministers, 

Self-formed,  and  self-governed,  the  Volunteers  accepted 
no  commissions  whatever  from  the  Crown,  and  acknow- 
ledged no  connection  whatever  with  the  Government ; 
the  private  men  appointed  their  own  officers,  and  occa- 
sionally cashiered  them  for  misconduct  or  incapacity ; 
they  accepted  no  pay,  tne  more  wealthy  soldier  cheer- 
fully shared  his  funds  with  his  poorer  comrade — and  the 
officers  contributed  their  proportions  to  the  general  stock 
purse. 

Yet  notwithstanding  this  perverted  state  of  all  military 
establishments,  their  subordination  was  complete :  the 
soldier  obeyed,  from  the  instinctive  impulse  of  honour 
to  bimself  and  duty  to  his  country  ;  the  officer  com- 
manded upon  the  same  principle,  and  very  few  instances 
occurred  where  either  were  found  to  deviate  from  the 
straightesl  line  of  military  rectitude.     The  rules  of  dia- 


OF   THE    tRISH    NATION.  65 

wpline  were  adopted  by  general  assent,  and  that  passive 
obedience  which,  in  regular  armies,  is  enforced  by  punish- 
ment, amongst  the  Volunteers  of  Ireland  was  effected  by 
honour. 

They  assumed  various  uniforms  ;  green,  white,  scailetj 
or  blue,  were  the  prevailing  colours.*  Their  line,  there- 
fore, appeared  variegated,  and  peculiarly  striking.  Their 
arms  were  at  first  provided  by  themselves ;  but  the  ex- 
traordinary increase  of  their  numbers  rendered  them  at 
length  unable  to  procure  a  sufficient  supply  by  purchase: 
they  had  then  but  one  course — they  confidently  required 
arms  from  the  Government ;  the  Government,  whatever 
reluctance  they  might  have  felt  to  arm  men  who  acknow- 
ledged no  supremacy,  yet  did  not  think  it  safe  to  refuse 
their  demand ;  and  with  an  averted  eye  handed  out  to 
the  Volunteers  twenty  thousand  stand  of  arms  from  the 
Castle  of  Dublin. 

V.  Being  completely  equipped,  the  acquirement  of 
persons  capable  of  instructing  so  large  a  body  in  military 
tactics,  appeared  a  matter  of  the  greatest  difficulty ;  but 
the  same  events  which  had  at  first  inspired  the  Irish 
with  a  determination  to  arm,  furnished  them  with  the 
means  not  only  of  acquiring  discipline,  bu4;  of  increasing 
their  ardour. 

The  disasters  of  the  American  war  had  restored  to  the 
bosom  of  Ireland  many  brave  men,  whose  health  had 
sunk  under  the  consequences  of  wounds  and  sufferings, 
and  who,  having  witnessed  the  successful  struggles  of 
America  for  liberty,  had  returned  to  Ireland  at  that 
moment  when  she  was  critically  preparing  to  assert  her 
own.  The  association  of  these  experienced  veterans  was 
sedulously  courted  by  the  Irish  Volunteers ;  their  orders 

*  The  Lawyer's  regiment  of  Volunteers  adopted  exactly  the  uniform 
of  the  King's  Guards — their  motto,  "  Pro  arts  et  focis."  The  Kilkenny 
regiment  (the  late  Earl  of  Ormond's.,)  and  the  regiments  of  Irish  Bri- 
gades, &c,  wore  green;  the  motto  of  the  latter,  "  Vox  populi  suprema 
lex  est."  During  the  continuance  of  the  Volunteer  corps,  no  other  police 
whatever  was  necessary  throughout  the  whole  nation — no  public  delin- 
quent could  possibly  escape  apprehension — and  the  most  perfect  peace 
and  tranquillity  prevailed  throughout  every  county  and  district  in  Ireland; 
the  Volunteers  exerted  themseives  in  every  department,  as  the  preser- 
vers  of  public  peace,  and  with  an  effect  never  known  at  any  former  at 
later  period  in  that  country. 

6* 


05  RISE    AND    PALL 

were  obeyed  with  confidence  and  aiacrity,  and  amongst 
the  country  corps  the  effect  of  their  instructions  became 
suddenly  conspicuous ;  and,  under  their  experience,  dis- 
cipline advanced  with  rapid  progress. 

The  intercourse  and  conversation  of  those  persons  al5»o 
had  a  powerful  effect,  by  transfusing  into  their  pupufl 
that  military  mind  which  a  veteran  soldier  can  never 
relinquish.  In  their  convivial  hours,  the  serjeant,  sur- 
rounded by  his  company,  expatiating  on  the  events  of 
actual  service,  and  introducing  episodes  of  individual 
bravery,  perhaps  of  his  own  undauntedness  and  sagacity, 
gradually  banished  every  other  topic  from  their  conver- 
sation at  those  meetings.  The  successful  perseverance 
of  America  had  impressed  even  the  soldier  himself  who 
had  fought  against  her,  with  an  involuntary  respect  for 
the  principles  of  his  enemies;  a  constant  intercourse 
with  his  Irish  associates  soon  excited  in  him  congenial 
feelings,  and  he  began  to  listen  with  pleasure  to  their 
interesting  question,  "Why  should  not  his  own  brave 
countrymen  possess  as  much  constitutional  liberty  as 
those  foreign  colonists  who  had  conquered  him  ? " 

It  is  difficult  to  conceive  the  fascination  which  seized 
upon  the  heretofore  contracted  intellect  of  the  military 
farmer,  by  a  repetition  of  these  novel  and  warlike  sub- 
jects; the  martial  propensity  of  his  innate  character  had 
already  rendered  him  peculiarly  susceptible  of  these  ani- 
mating impressions,  and  he  now  almost  imperceptibly 
imbibed  a  military  mind,  and  acquired  a  soldier's  feeling. 
In  a  word,  the  whole  nation  became  enamoured  of  arms , 
and  those  who  were  not  permitted  to  bear  them,  consi- 
dered themselves  as  honoured  by  being  employed  to 
carry  the  food  and  ammunition  of  the  soldier. 

The  chief  commanders  of  these  armed  bodies  were 
men  of  the  highest  and  most  distinguished  characters, 
and  each  corps  was  in  general  headed  by  persons  of  the 
first  respectability  in  their  respective  districts,  selected 
generally  for  their  popularity  and  independence ;  but  all 
these  corps  were,  for  a  considarable  time,  totally  distinct 
and  unconnected ;  nor  was  it  until  they  had  formed  into 
a  consolidated  column,  under  the  command  of  the  amia- 
ble and  the  illustrious  Charlemont,  that  they  acquirec 
the  irresistible  impulse  of  a  co-operating  jH>-°r.     TU« 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  67 

mild,  but  determined  patriotism  of  that  respected  noble- 
man, gave  a  new  tint  of  character  to  the  whole  army 
which  he  commanded,  and  chased  away  the  tongue  of 
slander  from  their  objects  and  their  conduct. 

In  the  number  of  those  who,  at  this  moment  were 
launched,  for  the  first  time,  into  public  observation, 
there  appeared  a  person,  who,  without  possessing  the 
highest  reputation  for  public  talent,  or  the  most  unde- 
viating  line  of  public  principle,  by  the  honest  and  spi- 
rited termination  of  his  political  life,  has  been  justly 
raised  upon  the  elevated  pedestal  of  national  gratitude ; 
a  person,  whose  early  appointment  to  the  first  financial 
department  of  Ireland,  and  whose  official  conduct,  from 
that  day  to  the  catastrophe  of  Irish  Parliaments,  will 
necessarily  be  the  subject  of  frequent  and  important 
observations,  and  authorizes  an  introduction  of  his  name 
and  character,  at  an  earlier  stage  of  this  history,  lhan 
would  otherwise  be  consistent  with  the  regular  detail  of 
a  progressive  narrative. 

VI.  Sir  John  Parnel,  the  commandant  of  a  Volunteet 
association,*  was  the  son  of  a  crafty  and  prudent  minor 
politician  (Sir  John  Parnel,  of  Rathlegue,  in  the  Queen's 
County.)  and  was  educated  with  a  view  to  a  diplomatic 
situation ;  but  on  his  return  from  the  Continent,  was 
found  by  his  father  too  deficient  in  the  necessary  attain- 
ments of  evasion  and  duplicity,  to  qualify  him  for  the 
high  departments  of  foreign  diplomacy:  his  talents, 
therefore,  became  destined  for  home  consumption,  and 
by  the  intrigues  of  his  father,  and  a  forced  exertion  of 
his  own  abilities,  he  was  soon  noticed  in  the  Irish  Par- 
liament as  a  person  of  more  than  ordinary  capacity — and 
after  a  veering  course  of  local  politics,  he  was  appointed 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  In  that  situation  he  con 
tinued,  till  the  project  of  a  union  called  forth  the  public 
virtues  of  every  man  who  possessed  any,  and  too  late 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  nation  to  its  steady  friends,  and 
to  its  temporizing  enemies. 

Sir  John  Parnel  had  an  eminent  capacity  for  public 
business,  but  a  lamentable  deficiency  of  system  in  its 
arrangement.  His  strong  mind  and  cultivated  under- 
standing lost  much  of  their  effect  by  the  flurry  of  hit 

*  The  Maryborough  Volunteers. 


68  RISE    AND   FALL 

manner,  which  frequently  impeded  the  perspicuity  of 
his  language. 

His  intellect  was  clear,  his  memory  retentive,  and  his 
conception  just ;  he  possessed  esteem,  without  an  effort 
to  obtain  it,  and  preserved  his  friends,  without  exercising 
his  patronage;  he  supported  the  Ministry  without  offend- 
ing the  opposition,  and  all  parties  united  in  calling  him 
an  honourable  man. 

Plain,  frank,  cheerful  and  convivial,  he  generally  pre- 
ferred society  to  trouble,  and  seemed  to  have  rid  himself 
of  a  weight  when  he  had  executed  a  duty.  As  a  finan- 
cier, he  was  not  perfect — as  a  statesman,  he  was  not 
deep — as  a  courtier,  he  was  not  polished — but  as  an 
officer,  he  was  not  corrupt ;  and  though  many  years  in 
possession  of  high  office,  and  extensive  patronage,  he 
showed  a  disinterestedness  almost  unparalleled  ;  and  the 
name  of  a  relative,  or  of  a  dependent,  of  his  own, 
scarcely  in  a  single  instance  increased  the  place  or  the 
pension  lists  of  Ireland. 

Though  his  education  and  habits  were  ministerial,  his 
mind  was  intrinsically  patriotic,  and  a  sentiment  of  inde- 
pendent spirit  not  mifrequently  burst  out  from  under  the 
pressure  of  that  official  restriction  which  the  duties  of 
his  station  had  necessarily  imposed  upon  him  ;  hut  his 
appointme~*  as  a  minister  never  induced  him  to  forget 
his  birth  as  «r'  Irishman ;  and  his  attachment  to  the  sove- 
reign, never  diminished  his  philanthropy  to  the  subject. 

After  an  honest,  faithful,  and  zealous  service  of  his 
tring,  for  seventeen  years — as  Chancellor  of  the  Irish 
Exchequer — he  was  called  upon  by  the  minister  to  sacri- 
fice his  principles,  and  betray  his  country — to  efface  the 
impressions  of  his  youth,  and  tarnish  the  honour  of  his 
maturity — to  violate  his  faith,  and  falsify  his  conviction; 
but  the  fetters  of  office  could  not  restrain  the  spirit  of 
its  captive :  he  lost  his  station,  but  he  retained  his  inte- 
grity, and  was  compensated  for  the  consequences  of  an 
undeserved  dismissal,  by  the  approbation  of  his  con- 
science and  the  affection  of  his  country. 

The  Volunteer  corps  which  he  commanded,  early  and 
zealously  adopted  the  cause  of  Irish  independence — a 
cause  he  strenuously  adhered  to,  to  the  last  moment  of 
his  existence — and  in  that  noble  firmness  with  which  lie 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  69 

resisted  a  legislative  union,  and  disobeyed  the  mandates 
of  a  crafty  and  vindictive  viceroy ;  he  has  left  to  the 
present  age  a  brilliant  and  a  rare  example  of  a  minister, 
no  nest  enough  to  prefer  his  character  to  his  office,  and 
proud  enough  to  postpone  his  interest  to  his  honour. 

VII.  The  Volunteer  system  now  becoming  universal 
in  Ireland,  effected  an  important  and  visible  change  in 
the  minds  and  -Rimers  of  the  middle  and  lower  orders 
of  the  people  ;  by  the  occurrence  of  new  events,  and  the 
piomulgation  of  novel  principles,  their  natmal  character 
became  affected  in  all  its  bearings,  and  acquired,  or 
rather  disclosed,  new  points,  which  at  that  period  tended 
to  promote  their  prosperity,  but  eventually  formed  the 
grand  pretence  for  the  extinguishment  of  their  inde- 
pendence. 

The  familiar  association  of  all  ranks,  which  the  nature 
of  their  new  military  connection  necessarily  occasioned, 
every  day  lessened  that  wide  distinction,  which  had 
theretofore  separated  the  higher  and  lower  orders  of 
society — the  landlord  and  the  tenant — the  nobleman  and 
the  artisan — the  general  and  the  soldier — now,  for  the 
first  time,  sat  down  at  the  same  board — shared  the  same 
fare — and  enjoyed  the  same  conviviality.  The  lower 
order  learned  their  own  weight  in  the  community — the 
higher  were  taught  their  dependance  upon  the  people — 
and  those  whose  illiterate  minds  had  never  before  con- 
ceived or  thought  on  the  nature  of  political  constitutions, 
or  the  fundamental  principles  of  civil  government,  now 
learned  from  the  intercourse  and  conversation  of  their 
superiors,  the  rudiments  of  that  complicated  but  noble 
science ;  the  misconception  and  the  abuse  of  which,  has 
since  become  the  severest  scourge  that  ever  afflicted  the 
states  of  Europe. 

A  visible  akeratkr  was  also  soon  observable  in  the 
genera*  appearance  of  the  people ;  the  squalid  garb  and 
careless  dress  of  the  Irish  farmer  was  now  exchanged 
for  the  minute  cleanliness  and  regularity  of  the  soldier. 
A  striking  revolution  took  place  not  only  in  the  minds, 
but  also  in  the  external  appearance  of  the  Irish ;  theii 
intellect  acquired  strength  by  exercise  and  information — 
their  address  was  improved  b}  intercourse  and  disci 
pline — and  their  general  appeal  *nce  by  dress  and  regu- 


70  RISK    AND    FALL 

lority;  and  had  not  the  same  causes,  which  led  to  the 
concessions  of  1782.  induced  the  British  Government  to 
recall  that  constitution  which  had  been  wrested  from  its 
feebleness,  these  unparalleled  associations  would  have 
conferred  advantages  on  the  country,  beyond  all  mea- 
sures which  human  wisdom  could  have  suggested,  for  ill 
improvement. 


/  Duke.  ofLanster.     /  ffenry  GraUw  . 
Z  Lord  Oar*.  5.  Hnssey  Burgh 

3.  Eenry  Floods.  6.  Lord  Kutctunson. 

7.  Lord  Charlemonts. 


P.  J.  Kene  dy,  Puilislier,  5  Barclay  St.  JtfewXbrk. 


GF   THE    IRISH    NATION. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

tfcttxperted  events  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons— Mr.  Grattturt 
Amendment  to  the  Address — His  public  character  and  vicissitudes — 
The  Amendment — Its  effects — Sir  Henry  Cavendish — His  character — 
Mr.  Hussey  Burgh  (the  Prime-Sergeant)  secedes  from  Government 
and  substitutes  an  Amendment  for  Mr.  Grattan's — the  Amendment 
passed — First  step  towards  Irish  independence — The  English  Parlia- 
ment callous  to  the  wrongs  of  Ireland — Lord  Shelburne  and  Lord 
Ossory  propose  resolutions — The  Irish  nation  determined  to  assert  its 
rights — Resolution  for  a  free  trade  carried  unanimously — This  circum- 
stance one  of  the  remote  causes  of  the  Union — Rapid  progress  of  ths 
Volunteers — Extraordinary  military  honours  paid  to  the  Duke  of 
Leinster — Attempts  to  seduce  the  Volunteers — Earl  oi  Charlemont— • 
His  character. 

L  While  those  transactions  were  taking  place  throughout 
the  countiy,  a  memorable  and  unexpected  event  occurred 
m  the  Irish  Parliament. 

The  sessions  of  1779-80  commenced  with  a  scene 
which  while  it  elevated  the  Irish  people  to  the  height  of 
expectation,  and  inspired  them  with  a  new  confidence, 
paralyzed  the  British  Government,  and  for  the  first 
moment,  made  known  decidedly  to  the  councils  of  that 
country,  that  they  had  no  longer  to  deal  with  a  timid, 
dispirited,  and  unprotected  nation. 

The  adoption  of  non-importation  and  non-consumption 
agreements  had  already  created  considerable  anxiety  in 
the  British  Minister  as  to  the  probable  result  of  the  ensuing 
Session,  and  the  Lord  Lieutenant  was  directed  to  open 
the  Parliament  with  a  speech,  remotely  alluding  to  his 
Majesty's  sentiments  of  liberality,  but  without  specifying 
any  measure  of  concession,  and  so  cautiously  guarded, 
as  neither  to  alarm  the  Public,  nor  commit  the  Govern- 
ment, but  the  days  of  insipidity  had  now  passed  away ; 
the  Viceroy's  speeches  from  the  throne,  for  almost  a 
jentury,  had  been  composed  nearly  in  the  same  common- 
place language  and  trite  observation,  and  the  addresses 
of  both  Houses,  in  reply  to  those  speeches,  had  been 


72  RISE    ASTD   PALI 

aimost  invariably  mere  echoes  of  the  speech  itself,  with 
general  assurances  of  ?>beral  supplies  and  increasing 
loyalty. 

On  the  opening  of  this  Session,  however,  there  appeared 
a  more  than  common  sensation  amongst  the  leading 
members  of  Parliament,  the  strong  and  animated  declara- 
tions of  public  sentiment  which  had  been  published  during 
uiQ  prorogation,  made  an  extraordinary  impression,  but 
the  extent  or  consequences  of  that  impression  could  not 
be  ascertained,  until  the  proceedings  of  the  House  ot 
Commons  gave  an  opportunity  of  observing  what  effect 
the  new  spirit  of  the  people  would  now  have  upon  the 
conduct  of  their  representatives. 

At  length  the  Parliament  assembled  ;  the  anxious  and 
inquisitive  eye  of  the  Secretary  and  of  the  steady  partisans 
of  Government  passed  rapidly  throughout  the  whole 
House  alarmed  by  the  appearance  of  some  unusual  re- 
sistance, they  endeavoured,  from  the  looks,  the  sugges- 
tions, the  manner  of  the  members,  to  prejudge  the  result 
of  the  first  night's  debate,  which  had  generally  decided 
the  complexion  of  the  ensuing  session,  but  no  sagacity 
could  have  anticipated  the  turn  which  Irish  affairs  were 
to  receive  on  that  night — no  human  foresight  could  have 
predicted  that  blow  which  the  system  of  the  British 
Cabinet  was  about  to  receive  by  one  single  sentence — 
or  have  foreseen  that  that  single  sentence  would  be 
the  composition  of  the  first  law-officer  of  the  Irish  Gov- 
ernment. 

The  Lord  Lieutenant's  speech  was  delivered  by  him, 
in  the  House  of  Lord's  in  the  accustomed  tone  of  confi- 
dence, ambiguity,  and  frivolous  recommendations  ;  and 
in  the  Commons,  the  usual  echo  and  adulatory  address 
was  moved  by  Sir  Robert  Deane,  a  person  completely 
devoted  to  the  views  of  Government.  A  pause  succeeded 
arid  an  unusual  communication  was  perceivable  betweer 
several  members  on  the  Government  and  Opposition 
sides  of  the  House.  A  decided  resistance  to  the  usual 
qualified  address  now  became  certain ;  the  Secretary, 
moving  irresolutely  from  place  to  place,  was  seen  endea- 
vouring to  collect  the  individual  opinions  of  the  members 
— and  the  law-officers  of  the  Crown  evinced  a  diffidence 
never  before  observable  in  their  department ;  throughout 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  73 

the  whole  House  a  new  sense  of  expectation  and  anxiety 
was  evident. 

II.  At  length  Mr.  Henry  Grattan  arose,  with  a  some- 
what more  than  usual  solemnity ; — he  seemed  labouring 
with  his  own  thoughts,  and  preparing  his  mind  for  a  more 
than  ordinary  exertion.  The  address  and  the  language 
of  this  extraordinary  man  were  perfectly  original ;  from 
his  first  essay  in  Parliament,  a  strong  sensation  had  been 
excited  by  the  point  and  eccentricity  of  his  powerful 
eloquence ; — nor  was  it  long  until  those  transcendent 
talents,  which  afterwards  distinguished  this  celebrated 
personage — were  perceived  rising  above  ordinary  capa- 
cities, and,  as  a  charm,  communicating  to  his  countrymen 
that  energy,  that  patriotism,  and  that  perseverance,  for 
which  he  himself  became  so  eminently  distinguished ; 
his  action,  his  tone,  his  elocution  in  public  speaking,  bore 
no  resemblance  to  that  of  any  other  person  ;  the  flights 
of  genius,  the  arrangements  of  composition,  and  the  solid 
jtrength  of  connected  reasoning,  were  singularly  blended 
>n  his  fiery,  yet  deliberative  language  ;  he  thought  in 
logic  and  he  spoke  in  antithesis  ;  his  irony  and  his  satire, 
rapid  and  epigrammatic,  bore  down  all  opposition,  and 
left  him  no  rival  in  the  broad  field  of  eloquent  invective  ; 
his  ungraceful  action,  however,  and  the  hesitating  tardi- 
ness of  his  first  sentences,  conveyed  no  favourable  im- 
pression to  those  who  listened  only  to  his  exordium,  but 
the  progress  of  his  brilliant  and  manly  eloquence  soon 
absorbed  every  idea,  but  that  of  admiration  at  the  over- 
powering extent  of  his  intellectual  faculties. 

This  was  Mr.  Henry  Grattan  of  1779 — in  the  vicissi- 
tudes of  whose  subsequent  life  will  be  remarked  three 
dictinct  eras  of  public  character,  and  disgusting  proofs  of 
popular  inconsistency — the  era  of  his  glory,  the  era  of 
his  calumny,  and  the  era  of  his  resurrection  ;  in  the  first, 
elevated  to  a  pitch  of  unbounded  gratification,  by  the 
attachment,  the  gratitude,  and  the  munificence  of  his 
countrymen  ; — in  the  second,  despoiled  of  health,  of 
happiness,  and  of  character,  by  the  artifices  of  a  powerful 
enemy,  and  in  the  third  rising  from  the  bed  of  sickness, 
re-embarking  a  shattered  frame  in  the  service  of  his 
country.  In  Parliament  he  taught  the  doctrines  of 
Molyneux  and  of  Lucas — he  drew  the  true  constitutional 

7 


74  RISE    AND    FALL 

distinctions  between  the  Crown  and  the  Government— 
the  magistrate  and  the  function — the  individual  and  the 
sceptre.  But  the  partiality  of  the  friend  may  possibly 
bias  the  pen  of  the  historian ; — his  public  principles  will 
be  best  ascertained  by  tracing  the  undeviating  line  of  his 
public  conduct. 

The  career  of  this  extraordinary  man  is  finished.  But 
he  survived  his  country,  he  lived  to  view  the  demolition  of 
that  noble  fabric  raised  by  the  exertion  of  his  own  virtue 
and  perseverance,  and  the  catastrophe  of  that  constitu- 
tion, which,  "  as  he  watched  over  it  in  its  cradle,  so  he 
attended  it  to  its  grave." 

III.  After  an  oration,  replete  with  the  most  luminous 
reasoning,  the  severest  censure,  pathetic  and  irresistible 
eloquence,  Mr.  Grattan  moved  an  amendment  to  the 
address,  viz.  "  That  we  beseech  your  Majesty  to  believe, 
that  it  is  with  the  utmost  reluctance  we  are  constrained 
to  approach  you  on  the  present  occasion  ;  but  the  con- 
stant drain  to  supply  absentees,  and  the  unfortunate 
prohibition  of  our  trade,  have  caused  such  calamity,  that 
the  natural  support  of  our  country  has  decayed,  and 
our  manufacturers  are  dying  for  want ;  famine  stalks 
hand  in  hand  with  hopeless  wretchedness  ;  and  the  only 
means  left  to  support  the  expiring  trade  of  this  miserable 
part  of  your  Majesty's  dominions,  is  to  open  a  free  export 
trade,  and  let  your  Irish  subjects  enjoy  their  natural 
birthright." 

His  arguments  had  been  so  conclusive,  his  position 
so  self-evident,  his  language  so  vigorous  and  determined, 
his  predictions  so  alarming,  and  the  impression  which 
those  combined  qualities  made  upon  the  House  was  so 
deep,  and  so  extensive,  that  the  supporters  of  Government, 
paralyzed  and  passive,  seemed  almost  ready  to  resign  the 
victory,  before  they  had  even  attempted  a  resistance. 

The  confusion  which  now  appeared  on  the  Treasury 
bench  was  very  remarkable,  because  very  unusual.  The 
Secretary  (Sir  Richard  Heron,)  for  the  first  time,  showed 
a  painful  mistrust  in  the  steadiness  of  his  followers  ;  he 
perceived  that  the  spirit  of  the  House  was  rising  into  a 
storm,  which  all  the  influence  of  his  office  would  not  be 
able  to  allay,  direct  opposition  would  be  injudicious,  if 
Dot  fata1  palpable  evasion  would  be  altogether  tmp^ac- 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  75 

ticable,  the  temporizing  system  was  almost  worn  out,  and 

Erocrastination  seemed  to  yield  no  better  prospect  of  a 
ivourable  issue ;  the  officers  of  Government  sat  sullenly 
on  their  benches,  awaiting  their  customary  cue  from  the 
lips  of  the  Minister,  but  he  was  too  skilful  to  commit 
himself  to  a  labyrinth,  from  whence  return  was  so  diffi 
cult  and  precarious,  and  all  was  silent.  At  length  uU 
Henry  Cavendish  hesitatingly  arose,  to  declare  his  dis- 
sent to  this  first  decided  effort  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to 
assert  its  liberties. 

IV.  Sir  Henry  Cavendish  was  one  of  those  persons 
who  are  generally  found  in  the  front  of  a  popular 
assembly,  and  acquire  notoriety  by  becoming  the  oracle 
of  some  insulated  department.  Though  possessed  of  a 
plain,  shrewd  understanding,  abundance  of  craft,  a  con- 
venient temper,  and  imposing  plausibility;  after  una- 
vailing effort  to  acquire  the  fame  of  a  rhetorician,  Sir 
Henry  contented  himself  with  the  reputation  of  profound 
knowledge  in  parliamentary  precedents  and  points  of 
order. 

Ae  was  ever  prepared  with  a  string  of  parliamentary 
precedents,  appropriate  to  every  question,  and  adapted 
to  every  circumstance,  which  he  skilfully  contrived  to 
substitute  for  reasoning,  and  oppose  to  argument,  and 
should  his  prolific  memory  chance  to  fail  him  in  the  quo- 
tation of  his  documents,  his  inventive  genius  never  ler 
the  subject  fail  for  want  of  an  auxiliary. 

On  points  of  order  he  was  at  least  as  garrulous  as 
orthodox,  and  peculiarly  expert  at  critical  interruption ; 
under  colour  of  keeping  order,  he  assumed  a  licence  for 
transgressing  it, — and  in  affecting  to  check  the  digression 
of  others,  he  frequently  made  it  the  first  figure  of  his 
own  rhetoric ; — he  was  admirably  calculated  for  desul- 
tory debate — when  he  was  right,  he  was  concise — when 
lie  was  wrong,  he  was  pertinacious,  sarcastic,  obstinate, 
plausible,  persevering — he  gained  time  when  he  could  not 
make  proselytes,  and  became  the  very  essence  and  soul  of 
procrastination.  Sir  Henry  was  well  aware  that  he  durst 
not  venture  an  unqualified  negative,  and  endeavoured 
craftily  to  administer  his  panacea  of  precedents,  and  tc 
propose  what  he  termed  "  something  more  orderly  in  the 
House,  and  more  gracious  to  the  Sovereign."    He  said 


<T6  RISE    AND    FALL 

he  would  vote  against  the  amendment- -that  the  business 
would  be  beUer  effected  by  following  a  precedent  in  the 
year  1661,  when  the  Lords  and  Commons  of  Ireland 
appointed  commissioners  to  attend  the  King — to  "  sup- 
plicate the  redress  of  grievances." 

V.  The  die  was  now  cast — and  a  resistance  to  the 
measure  was  announced  and  proceeded  on.  Mr.  Scott 
(Attorney  General)  affected  to  support  Sir  Henry — but 
as  if  conscious  of  his  ultimate  failure,  he  appeared  almost 
a  new  character ; — the  bold  audacity  of  his  address  dege- 
nerated into  an  insidious  plausibility — his  arrogance  fled 
without  an  effort — and  for  once  in  his  life  he  was  tame, 
rapid,  and  equivocal ; — an  ardent  spirit  now  burst  forth 
from  every  quarter  of  the  House.  Mr.  Henry  Flood,  a 
most  prominent  personage  in  Irish  history,  whose  endow- 
ments were  great,  and  whose  character  was  distinguished, 
the  Provost — Mr.  Ogle — Sir  Edward  Newnham — and 
many  others — declared  their  coincidence  with  the  amend- 
ment. But  though  it  stated,  in  true  and  pathetic  language, 
the  miseries  Ireland  was  subject  to,  by  reason  of  her 
absentees,  if  pressed  too  strongly  on  the  tenderest  spot  ol 
the  interest  of  Britons,  to  admit  of  their  concurrence ; 
while,  on  the  other  side,  it  was  conceived  not  to  be  tho- 
roughly explicit — and  not  sufficiently  peremptory ; — the 
object  was  most  important — the  moment  was  most  critical 
— and  the  amendment  was  exceptionable.  These  diffi- 
culties had  been  foreseen. 

VI.  Mr.  Hussey  Burgh  (the  Prime  Sergeant)  at  length 
arose  from  the  Treasury  bench,  with  that  proud  dignity 
so  congenial  to  his  character,  and  declared,  that  he  never 
would  support  any  Government,  in  fraudulently  con 
cealing  from  the  King  the  right  of  his  people ; — that  the 
high  office  which  he  possessed  could  hold  no  competition 
with  his  principles  and  his  conscience,  and  he  should 
consider  the  relinquishment  of  his  gown  only  as  a  just 
sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  his  country; — that  strong 
statement,  rather  than  pathetic  supplication,  was  adapted 
to  the  crisis ;  and  he  proposed  to  Mr.  Grattan  to  substi- 
tute for  his  amendment  the  following  words — "  That  it 
£  not  by  temporary  expedients,  that  this  nation  is  now 
10  be  saved  from  impending  ruin." 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  77 

The  effect  of  his  speech*  was  altogether  indescribable 
nor  is  it  easily  to  be  conceived  by  those  who  were  not 
witnesses  of  that  remarkable  transaction;  the  House, 
quick  in  its  conception,  and  rapidly  susceptible  of  every 
impression,  felt  the  whole  force  of  this  unexpected  and 
important  secession.  The  character — the  talents — the 
eloquence  of  this  great  man,  bore  down  every  symptom 
of  further  resistance  ; — many  of  the  usual  supporters  of 
Government,  and  some  of  the  Viceroy's  immediate  con- 
nections, instantly  followed  his  example,  and  in  a  moment 
the  victory  was  decisive, — not  a  single  negative  could  the 
Minister  procure, — and  Mr.  Burgh's  amendment  passed 
unanimously,  amidst  a  tumult  of  joy  and  exultation. 

This  triumph  of  Irish  patriotism,  made  an  instantaneous 
and  powerful  impression  on  the  minds  of  the  people; — it 
was  their  first  victory,  and  the  ministers'  first  discomfiture. 
The  volunteers  attributed  this  unexpected  success  to  the 
impressions  which  their  spirit  had  diffused  throughout 
the  country,  and  they  determined  to  adopt  this  measure, 
as  if  it  had  been  their  own  offspring — and  thereby  identify 
the  virtues  of  the  Parliament  with  the  energies  of  the 
people.  On  the  circumstance  being  announced,  the 
drums  beat  to  arms — the  Volunteer  associations  collected 
in  every  part  of  the  metropolis — and  they  resolved  to 
line  the  streets,  and  accompany  to  the  gates  of  the  Castle 
that  part  of  the  legislative  body  which  moved  in  solemn 
procession,  to  present  their  wholesome  warning  into  the 
hands  of  the  Viceroy. 

The  secession  of  Mr.  Burgh  from  the  Government, 
was  not  more  important  than  that  of  M.  Connolly, 
brother-in-law  to  the  Viceroy,  and  Mr.  Burton  Cuning- 
ham,  a  constant  supporter  of  ministerial  measures — men 

•  The  author  of  this  memoir  was  present  at  that  memorable  debate 
(if  debate  it  can  be  called,)  and  the  impression  it  then  made  upon  his 
mind  can  never  be  effaced.  The  depression  on  the  one  side — the  exulta- 
tion on  the  other — the  new  sensation  on  both — the  obvious  feeling  which 
this  unexpected  event  excited  in  the  galleries,  crowded  by  six  or  seven 
hundred  of  the  most  respectable  persons  out  of  Parliament,  and  a  great 
number  of  ladies  of  high  rank — the  general  congratulation  on  the  spirit 
of  the  Parliament,  was  a  scene  so  remarkable,  as  never  to  be  forgotten; 
but  is  attended  by  the  sad  reflection,  that  Mr.  Burgh  did  not  long  sur- 
vive the  service  he  did  his  country — nor  did  his  country  loruj  survive  the 
■ervire  which  he  rendered  if. 

r 


78  RISE    AND   FALL 

in  high  estimation  and  of  large  fortunes — which  gave  Mr. 
Giattan  an  opportunity  for  observing,  that  "  the  people 
were  thus  getting  landed  security  for  the  attainment  ot 
their  liberties." 

The  effect  of  this  measure,  though  in  its  nature  incon- 
clusive, appeared  to  lay  the  first  stone  of  Irish  indepen- 
dence, and  greatly  increased  both  the  numbers  and  con- 
fidence in  Volunteer  associations.* 

Several  attempts  had  been  previously  made  to  fix  the 
attention  of  the  British  legislature  on  the  distressed  and 
dangerous  situation  of  Ireland ;  but  every  such  effort  had 
proved  totally  abortive.  Although  the  critical  state  of 
that  country  had  been  discussed  in  both  houses  of  Par- 
liament, and  addresses  had  been  voted  to  the  King  re- 
questing his  immediate  attention  to  the  affairs  of  Ireland, 
to  which  favorable  answers  had  been  returned  by  his 
Majesty ;  and  though  the  Irish  Commons  had  also  framed 
a  resolution,  in  the  language  of  more  than  common 
expostulation ;  yet   the  subject  passed   away  from  the 

*  The  secret  history  of  this  celebrated  amendment  is  worthy  of  record- 
ing ;  it  proves  that  the  measures  adopted  by  Ireland,  at  that  period,  were 
not  the  work  of  party  or  of  faction,  but  the  result  of  the  secret  and  delibe- 
rate consideration  of"  the  most  able  and  virtuous  men  of  the  Irish  nation. 

Mr.  Dennis  Daly,  a  man  of  great  abilities,  large  fortune,  exquisite 
eloquence,  and  high  character,  together  with  Mr.  Grattan,  withdrew 
themselves  to  Bray  (a  village  ten  miles  from  the  metropolis,)  there  to 
deliberate  privately  on  the  most  effectual  means  of  attaining  the  just 
rights  of  their  country ; — previous  confidential  communications  had  taken 
place  between  them  and  Mr.  Perry,  then  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, who  recommended  a  strong  and  comprehensive  amendment  to  the 
address  of  the  ensuing  session,  as  the  first  step  to  be  taken  on  the  occa- 
sion. Mr.  Grattan  drew  up  one  amendment — Mr.  Daly  another — and 
Mr.  Daly's,  in  his  own  hand-writing,  formed  that  which  Mr.  Grattan 
moved  in  the  Commons. 

At  the  same  time  similar  communications  had  taken  place  between  Mr 
Hussey  Burgh  and  Mr.  Henry  Flood,  which  gave  rise  to  the  amendment 
moved  by  Mr  Burgh. 

That  proposed  by  Mr.  Grattan  leaning  heavily  on  absentees,  the  friends 
of  that  body  did  not,  from  the  complexion  of  the  House,  wish  to  hazard 
any  division  respecting  them ;  and  therefore,  to  avoid  such  discussion, 
acceded  to  Mr.  Burgh's' ammendment,  which  did  not  allude  to  absentees, 
to  avoid  Mr.  Grattan's  which  did ; — and  to  this  circumstance  is  to  be  attri- 
buted  the  unaccountable  unanimity  with  which  the  measure  passed  both 
Houses  oi  Parliament — and  the  extraordinary  secession  of  Mr.  Connolly, 
and  other  weighty  supporters  of  Administration 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  79 

attention  of  the  Ministers,  and  even  this  session  closed, 
affording  only  further  and  decided  proofs  of  their  tem- 
porizing duplicity. 

VII.  Great  Britain  was  not  as  yet  sufficiently  alarmed, 
to  become  just ; — she  could  not  as  yet  be  persuaded  that 
the  Irish  people  were  competent  to  the  redress  of  their 
own  grievances ;  and  she  considered  the  warmth  of  their 
public  declarations  only  as  the  brilliant  flashes  of  a  tem- 
porary patriotism. 

Her  egotism  blinded  her  to  her  state  and  she  fancied 
that  the  same  revolution  which  had  confirmed  her  liberties, 
had  subjected  to  her  power  the  liberties  of  her  sister; 
and  still  paramount  to  justice  and  to  policy,  she  felt  too 
proud  as  yet  to  bend  her  attention  to  the  grievances  which 
she  had  herself  inflicted. 

Some  powerful  friends  of  Ireland  at  length  began 
zealously  to  espouse  her  interests.  The  good  Earl  Nu- 
gent, whose  memory  and  character  are  still  revered  by 
those  who  recollect  the  sincerity  of  his  attachment  to  that 
country  in  1778,  made  an  effort  in  the  British  Lords  to 
call  their  attention  to  the  distresses  of  Ireland :  but  his 
efforts  were  ineffectual.  The  same  nobleman  soon  after 
repeated  the  same  effort;  but  his  weight  and  abilities 
were  not  equal  to  his  zeal  and  integrity.  His  motion  was 
treated  with  an  unbecoming  superciliousness  by  Lord 
North,  and  death  unfortunately,  soon  after,  deprived  his 
country  of  one  of  its  truest  friends  and  most  dignified  and 
honest  advocates. 

VIII.  The  Earl  of  Shelburne,  in  the  Lords,  and  the 
Earl  of  Upper  Ossory,  in  the  Commons,  also  proposed 
strong  resolutions  in  both  Houses,  declaratory  of  the 
dangerous  state  of  that  country.*    But  though  the  mo 

*  The  following  resolution  was  moved,  by  the  Earl  of  Shelburne,  in 
die  British  House  of  Lords,  on  the  1st  day  of  December,  1779 : — 

"  Resolved — That  it  is  highly  criminal  in  his  Majesty's  Ministers  to 
Dave  neglected  taking  effectual  measures  for  the  relief  of  the  kingdom  of 
Ireland,  and  to  have  suffered  the  discontents  of  that  country  to  rise  to  such 
a  height,  as  evidently  to  endanger  the  constitutional  connection  between 
the  two  kingdoms,  and  to  create  new  embarrassments  to  the  public  coun- 
cils, through  division  and  diffidence,  in  a  moment  when  real  unanimity, 
grounded  upon  mutual  confidence  and  affection,  is  confessedly  essential 
to  tiie  preservation  of  the  British  empire." 

After  a  short  debate,  this  motion  was  rejected.  For  the  motion— 
•7  Lords.     Against  it— 82. 


80  RISE    AND    FALL 

tiou  was  well-timed,  the  motives  of  the  noble  movers  did 
not  proceed  from  the  same  feeling  which  actuated  th« 
resident  inhabitants  of  Ireland.  Neither  of  those  noble- 
men had  been  habitual  friends  to  the  general  interests  of 
that  country.  Both  of  them  were  total  absentees — they 
possessed  large  estates  in  Ireland,  and  trembled  for  their 
properties — they  acted  in  general  opposition  to  the  Go- 
vernment, and  wished  to  register  the  culpability  of  their 
adversaries.  Their  motions  were,  after  very  sharp  debates, 
rejected  in  both  Houses,  and  Ireland  became  fully  and 
finally  convinced,  that  it  was  not  through  the  occasional 
exertion  of  Irish  emigrants,  in  a  foreign  legislature,  that 
she  was  to  "seek  for  the  recovery  of  her  rights,  and  allevi- 
ation of  her  miseries. 

Applications  to  the  Government — petitions  to  the  Par- 
liament— and  supplications  to  the  Crown,  had  all  been 
tiied  in  vain:  neither  the  bold  remonstrances  of  right, 
nor  the  piercing  cries  of  necessity,  could  reach  the  royal 
ear,  or  penetrate  the  circle  of  Ministers  which  surrounded 
the  British  throne,  and  concealed  from  the  Irish  king  a 
uistinct  view  of  his  Irish  people.  Humble  and  pathetic 
language  had  failed — the  voice  of  the  nation  was  ex- 
hausted by  unevailing  supplication — and  it  now  became 
full  time  to  act  in  the  cause  of  liberty. 

Such  being  the  ascertained  disposition  of  the  whole 
body  of  the  people,  not  a  moment  was  to  be  lost  in  the 
adoption  of  some  measure,  too  strong  to  be  despised  by 
ministers,  and  too  moderate  to  be  dangerous  to  the  con- 
nection. Delay  might  now  terminate  all  the  hopes  of 
Ireland — the  crisis  might  pass  away — the  public  spirit 
might  cool — and  the  moment  so  auspicious  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  nation  might  be  lost  for  ever.  Though  this 
determination  quickly  circulated  throughout  the  whole 
country,  the  people  still  acted  with  that  deliberate  firm- 
ness, which,  of  all  conduct,  is  the  most  fatal  to  a  political 
adversary,  and  adds  most  strength  and  character  to  populai 
proceedings. 

IX.  The  personages  who  then  led  Ireland  forward  tc 
her  bloodless  victory,  well  knew  the  inestimable  value  of 
that  prudent  principle.  They  were  men  of  great  abilities 
— profound  wisdom — and  that  effective  patriotism,  which 
tonsiders  activity  its  necessary  fr;md,  but  precipitation 


OP   THE    IRISH    NATION.  8] 

Its  most  dangerous  enemy.  They  instructed  the  people, 
that  while  they  acted  with  undeviating  firmness,  they 
should  also  act  with  prudential  moderation — that  the  sus- 
pended liberties  of  a  people  were  most  likely  to  be  reco- 
vered from  a  powerful  oppressor,  by  a  determined  but 
cool  and  progressive  perseverance — that  by  deliberate 
system  none  would  be  alarmed — wise  men  would  be 
attended  to — the  impetuous  be  restrained — the  wavering 
confirmed — and  the  poople  steadied :  patriotism  and  con- 
fidence would  grow  up  together  and  become  more  inti- 
mately blended,  and  the  whole  nation,  without  alarm,  be 
imperceptibly  led  to  one  common  centre,  and  become 
competent  to  achieve  the  strongest  measures,  before  they 
were  well  aware  that  they  had  commenced  the  prepara 
tion  for  them. 

They  were  instructed,  that  on  the  other  hand,  undi 
gested  and  impetuous  proceedings,  if  not  successful,  by 
the  first  rapidity  of  their  execution,  in  general  defeat  their 
own  object,  and  rivet  the  chains  of  that  country  which 
they  were  intended  to  emancipate — that  it  is  more  prac- 
ticable to  advance  on  gradual  claims  than  recede  from 
extravagant  determinations — and  that  the  inevitable 
miseries  of  civil  war,  however  justifiable  upon  the  princi- 
ples and  precedent  of  constitutional  resistance,  esta- 
blished at  the  revolution,  should  be  the  last  resource  even 
of  an  enslaved  people — and,  that  though  the  Irish  were 
armed,  and  might  demand  concession  in  the  attitude  and 
tone  of  confidence,  it  would  be  much  wiser  to  give  their 
incipient  proceedings  the  weight  and  character  of  citizens, 
and  reserve  for  the  last  extremity  the  threat  of  soldiers — 
that  England,  by  this  means,  would  be  sufficiently  in- 
formed of  the  determination  of  Ireland,  without  feeling 
her  pride  too  much  hurt,  to  propose  a  negotiation,  or  so 
much  alarmed  as  to  prepare  for  resistance. 

This  discreet  reasoning  had  its  full  effect  upon  the 
generality  of  the  nation ;  and  though  the  ebullitions  of 
public  feeling  occasionally  broke  forth  in  ardent  resolu- 
tions of  the  Volunteer  associations — the  temperate  system 
was  generally  adopted ;  and  it  was  only  upon  fully  expe- 
riencing its  final  failure,  that  the  exhilarating  shouts  of 
an  embattled  people  were  heard  reverberating  from  evert 
quarter  of  a  military  country. 


82  RISE    AND    FALL 

X.  As  before  mentioned,  public  resolutions  neither  to 
import,  purchase,  or  consume  any  British  manufacture, 
or  commodity  whatever,  had  been  universally  but  peace- 
ably adopted,  throughout  the  whole  island — a  measure 
at  all  times  justifiable  by  any  people,  who  may  have 
been  deprived  of  their  commerce  and  their  constitution 
by  the  power  or  the  machinations  of  an  insidious 
neighbour. 

Inundated  as  Ireland  had  been  with  every  species  of 
British  manufacture,  there  could  be  no  step  so  just,  so 
moderate,  or  which  promised  so  many  beneficial  conse- 
quences, as  the  total  exclusion  from  the  Irish  markets  of 
every  commodity  which  she  was  herself  competent  to  ma- 
nufacture, or  of  which  she  could  possibly  dispense  with 
the  immediate  consumption.  However,  it  was  not  until 
after  the  grievances  of  Ireland  could  be  no  longer  en- 
dured, and  she  found  that  nothing  but  propositions, 
without  sufficient  latitude  to  be  beneficial,  or  security 
to  be  permanent,  were  offered  for  her  acceptance,  that 
these  resolutions  became  almost  universal — spread  them- 
selves like  a  rapid  flame,  throughout  every  village  of 
the  island — and  were  zealously  promoted  by  almost  every 
individual  in  the  country.  At  length,  a  general  meet- 
ing was  convened  by  the  High  Sheriffs  of  the  city  of 
Dublin,  and  resolutions*  then  entered  into  by  the  whole 

*   THOLSEL,  DUBLIN. 

At  a  general  meeting  of  the  Freemen  and  Freeholders  of  the  City  of 

Dublin,  convened  by  public  notice, 

William  James,  and  John  Exshaw,  High  Sheriffs,  in  the  chair. 

The  following  Resolutions,  amongst  others,  were  unanimously 
•greed  to: 

"  That  we  will  not,  from  the  date  hereof,  until  the  grievances  of  this 
tountry  shall  be  removed,  directly  or  indirectly  import  or  consume  an? 
of  the  manufactures  of  Great  Britain ;  nor  will  we  deal  with  any  mer- 
chant, or  shopkeeper,  who  shall  import  such  manufactures ;  and  that  wg 
recommend  an  adoption  of  a  simdar  agreement  to  all  our  countrymen  who 
regard  the  commerce  and  constitution  of  this  country. 

"  Resolved  unanimously,  That  we  highly  applaud  the  manly  and  patri- 
otic sentiments  of  the  several  corps  of  Merchants,  Independent  Dublin, 
Liberty,  and  Goldsmiths'  Volunteers,  and  heartily  thank  them  for  their 
demonstration  of  zeal  and  ardour  in  the  cause  of  their  country — and  that 
we  shall  ever  be  ready  to  join  with  them  in  defending  our  rights  and  con- 
stitution, and  gladly  and  cheerfully  contribute  to  protect  them  from 
•mosECUTioN  or  persecution. 

Signed,  JOHN  EXSHAW,  Sheriff." 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  83 

metropolis,  which  finally  confirmed  and  consummated  that 
judicious  measure,  and  at  length  convinced  Great  Bri- 
tain, that  Ireland  would  no  longer  submit  to  insult  and 
domination,  and  had  commenced  a  gradation  of  active 
proceedings,  of  which  the  climax  might  ultimately,  though 
unfortunately,  produce  a  rupture  of  the  connection. 

These  resolutions  were  enforced  with  rigor  and  strict- 
ness. Few  men,  however  their  interest  might  be  affected, 
would  wantonly  risk  the  imputation  of  being  traitors  to 
their  country,  and  encounter  the  dangers  of  popular 
retribution,  which  was,  in  some  few  instances,  actually 
inflicted. 

The  nation  now  paused  for  a  moment :  it  found  itself 
prepared  to  commence  its  great  work  of  constitutional 
regeneration,  and  stood  steadily  and  firmly  watching  with 
an  anxious  eye,  for  the  operation  of  this  first  overt  act  of 
determined  patriotism.  The  people  had  now  ascended  an 
eminence  sufficiently  elevated  to  give  them  a  ful.  view  of 
their  friends  and  of  their  enemies — they  had  peaceably 
hoisted  the  first  standard,  and  made  the  first  proclamation 
of  liberty.  A  mutual  compact  of  the  citizen  to  support 
the  soldier,  and  the  soldier  to  defend  the  citizen,  formed 
a  very  remarkable  feature  in  all  their  resolutions — and 
though  the  military  associations  had  not  (as  such)  yet 
assumed  a  deliberative  capacity,  it  was  obvious  that  their 
discretion  alone  had  continued  the  distinction — and,  thai 
though  they  spoke  by  two  tongues,  there  was  in  fact  but 
one  heart  amongst  the  people. 

This  bold  measure,  however  it  may  have  been  eclipsed 
by  the  more  striking  importance  of  events  which  succeeded 
each  other  in  a  rapid  progression,  yet  had  a  momentous 
influence  on  the  subsequent  fate  and  policy  of  Ireland,  and 
must  be  considered  as  the  commencement  of  that  interest- 
ing course  of  political  transactions,  which  suddenly  raised 
her  to  the  highest  pitch  of  national  pride  and  prosperity, 
and  afterwards  hurled  her  down  the  destructive  precipice 
of  misery  and  degradation. 

The  spirited  adoption  and  obstinate  adherence  of  the 

N.  B. — This  resolution  had  been  preceded,  some  months  before,  by 
similar  resolutions  in  Gal  way  and  other  parts  of  Ireland ;  but  the  nation 
could  not  be  considered  as  having  generally  adopted  those  sentiments,  till 
they  were  sanctioned  \  y  the  metropolis. 


84  RISE    AND    FALL 

Irish  people  to  these  resolutions,  now  flashed  as  a  new 
light  in  the  eyes  of  the  British  Administration.  The 
power  of  the  English  statutes,  which  bound  the  com- 
merce of  Ireland,  was,  by  these  resolutions,  almost  at  the 
same  moment  denied  and  demolished,  without  the  aid  of 
arms,  or  tumult  of  insurrection,  and  the  pride  and  power 
of  Great  Britain  received  that  warning  blow,  which  taught 
her  what  she  had  reason  to  expect  from  a  further  perse* 
verance  in  her  favorite  system.  The  Ministry  were  asto- 
nished :  the  arm  of  usurpation,  which  had  so  long  wielded 
alternately  the  sword  and  commanded  the  coffer,  fell 
paralyzed  and  lifeless  by  the  side  of  the  usurpers.  But 
the  fate  of  empires  is  governed  by  the  same  fatality  as 
the  chequered  life  of  individuals ;  and  this  very  measure, 
which  so  auspiciously  and  proudly  asserted,  and  the 
Wents  which  afterwards  so  completely  acquired  the  con- 
stitutional independence  and  commercial  freedom  of  Ire- 
land, will  be  found  the  ulterior  pretence  for  revoking 
those  great  acquirements.  England,  compelled  to  concede 
was  determined  to  reclaim,  and  from  the  first  hours  of 
reluctant  concession,  pursued  that  deep  and  insidious  sys- 
tem, which  will  be  fully  traced  and  developed  in  the 
course  of  Irish  transactions,  and  will  be  found  conspicu- 
ously active,  from  the  commercial  tariff  of  1784,  through 
every  stage  of  the  regency,  and  the  rebellion,  to  the  com- 
pletion of  that  measure,  entitled  a  legislative  Union  be- 
tween the  two  countries. 

XI.  The  Volunteer  associations  of  the  metropolis  soon 
perceived,  that  however  numerous  their  force  and  exten- 
sive their  popularity,  it  required  some  strong  link  of  con- 
nection to  unite  military  bodies,  so  entirely  distinct  and 
independent  of  each  other — who  acknowledged  no  supe- 
rior to  their  respective  commanders,  and  no  control  but 
voluntary  obedience. 

To  secure  their  unanimity,  perhaps  even  their  perma- 
nence, it  required  some  consolidating  authority,  whose 
weight  might  restrain  within  proper  limits  the  uncon- 
trolled spirits  of  a  body,  assuming  the  double  capacity  of 
a  soldier  and  of  a  citizen. 

This  essential  object  could  onlv  be  attained  by  the 

•election  of  some  high  and  dignified  personage,  whose 

ank  and  character,  rising  beyond  the  reach  of  common 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  B5 

competition,  might  unite  together,  under  one  common 
chief,  that  diversity  of  views  and  objects  which  must  ever 
distract  the  proceedings  of  detached  associations. 

The  Volunteers  of  Dublin  saw  clearly,  that  military 
bodies,  however  laudable  their  views,  must  be  more  than 
commonly  subject  to  the  fallibility  of  human  institutions, 
and  that  to  have  the  effect  and  impetus  of  an  army,  they 
must  submit  themselves  fully  to  its  control  and  organi- 
zation. 

They  did  not,  however,  long  hesitate  in  their  choice  of 
a  commander.  Every  eye  seemed  to  turn,  by  genera^ 
instinct,  on  William,  Duke  of  Leinster.  His  family, 
from  the  earliest  periods,  had  been  favorites  of  the  peo- 
ple— he  had  himself,  when  Marquis  of  Kildare,  been 
the  popular  representative  for  Dublin — he  was  the  only 
Duke  of  Ireland — his  disposition  and  his  address  com- 
bined almost  every  quality  which  could  endear  him  to 
the  nation.  The  honesty  of  his  heart  might  occasionally 
mislead  the  accuracy  of  his  judgment ;  but  he  always 
intended  right,  and  his  political  errors  usually  sprung 
from  the  principle  of  moderation. 

This  amiable  Nobleman  was  therefore  unanimously 
elected,  by  the  armed  bodies  of  the  metropolis,  their 
General,  and  was  immediately  invested  with  all  the 
honours  of  so  high  a  situation  ;  a  guard  of  Volunteers 
was  mounted  at  his  door — a  body  guard  appointed  to 
attend  him  on  public  occasions — and  sentinels  placed  on 
his  box  when  he  honoured  the  theatre ;  he  was  followed 
with  acclamations  whenever  he  appeared ;  and  something 
approaching  to  regal  honours  attended  his  investiture.* 

*  A  whimsical  circumstance  took  place  on  this  occasion,  which  shows 
the  extreme  credulity  with  which  every  intelligence  respecting  Ireland 
was  then  swallowed  in  Great  Britain.  The  appointment  of  the  Duke, 
as  General  in  Chief,  was  celebrated  by  the  Volunteers  in  College-green, 
with  great  solemnity.  Their  artillery  was  ordered  out,  and  a  vast  con- 
course of  people  were  assembled.  The  captain  of  a  Whitehaven  collier, 
who  had  just  landed,  and  come  unexpectedly  to  the  spot,  on  inquiring 
the  reason  of  such  rejoicing,  was  jocularly  informed,  that  the  people 
were  crowning  the  Duke  King  of  Ireland.  He  waited  for  no  further 
information — got  back  with  all  expedition  to  his  vessel  in  the  bay,  and 
sailed  instantly  for  Liverpool;  where  he  made  an  affidavit  before  the 
Mayor,  that  he  was  present  and  saw  the  Duke  of  Leinster  crowned 
King  of  Ireland  the  preceding  day.  An  express  was  instantly  despatched 
to  London  with  the  affidavit  to  the  British  Ministers — a  cabinet  counci 

8 


86  RISE    AND    FALL 

This  was  the  first  measure  of  the  Volunteers  towards 
the  formation  of  a  regular  army ;  its  novelty  and  splen- 
dor added  greatly  to  its  importance,  and  led  the  way  to 
the  subsequent  appointments  which  soon  after  completed 
their  organization.  The  mild  and  unassuming  disposi- 
tion of  the  Duke,  tending,  by  its  example,  to  restrain  the 
over  zeal  of  an  armed  and  irritated  nation,  did  not  con- 
tribute much  to  increase  the  energy  of  their  proceedings 
and  at  no  distant  period  deprived  him,  for  a  moment,  of 
a  portion  of  that  popularity  which  his  conduct  (with  but 
little  deviation)  entitled  him  to,  down  to  the  last  moments 
of  his  existence. 

A  new  scene  now  presented  itself  to  the  view  of  tht 
British  Minister,  and  embarrassed,  to  an  unparalleled 
degree,  every  measure  of  the  Irish  administration.  A 
regular  army,  composed  of  every  rank  of  society,  raised, 
armed,  and  disciplined  in  the  midst  of  the  metropolis, 
independent  of  the  Crown,  and  unconnected  with  the 
Government,  disdaining  all  authority  of  either  over  their 
military  concerns,  and,  under  the  eye  of  the  Viceroy, 
appointing  a  commander  in  chief,  and  avowing  their 
determination  to  free  their  country  or  perish  in  its  ruins,* 
the  standing  army  tame  spectators  of  this  extraordinary 
spectacle,  and  almost  participating  the  flame  which  they 
might  be  called  upon  to  extinguish ;  the  Government, 
irresolute,  and  shrinking  within  the  Castle,  not  only 
tolerated,  but  even  affected  to  countenance,  this  unpa- 
ralleled procedure.  The  new  commander  of  the  Volun- 
teers was  received  and  recognized  by  the  public  author- 
ities, and  the  regular  soldiery  at  length  involuntarily 
paid  him  the  same  military  attentions  as  their  own 
commanders. 

But  though  the  Government,  from  policy,  affected  to 
bear  the  sight  with  complacency  and  patience,  they 
reflected,  with  the  deepest  solicitude,  on  the  situation  of 
the  country,  and  secretly  made  every  effort  to  divide  or 
weaken  the   military  associations.     Every  device  was 

was  immediately  summoned,  to  deliberate  on  this  alarming  intelligence, 
when  the  arrival  of  the  regular  mail  dissipated  their  consternation,  by 
stating  the  real  causes  of  the  rejoicing. 

*  The  following  label  was  affixed  to  the  mouth  of  the  Volunteer  an- 
ioa — "  A  Free  Trade  0*-  -" 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  87 

Hsed  to  seduce  the  soldier  from  his  officers,  or  to  detach 
the  most  popular  officers  from  the  command  of  the 
soldiers.  The  one  was  offered  commissions  and  pay  from 
the  Crown,  the  other  offices  in  the  public  departments. 
No  scheme  was  left  untried — no  means  were  forgotten, 
to  achieve  this  object ;  but  it  was  all  in  vain — the  spirit 
of  the  people  was  then  too  high,  and  their  patriotism  too 
ardent  to  admit  of  such  negociation — and  every  attempt 
became  not  only  futile,  but  also  gave  an  additional 
strength  to  the  measures  and  declarations  of  the  people. 

The  appointment  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  Volunteers  of  the  metropolis,  was  quickly 
followed  by  that  of  other  district  generals  ;  and  the  or- 
ganization of  four  provincial  armies  was  regularly  pro- 
ceeded on ;  the  country  gentlemen,  of  the  highest  con- 
sideration and  largest  fortune,  vied  with  each  other  in 
their  efforts  to  promote  it ;  many  leading  members  of 
the  Irish  parliament  were  individually  active  in  promo- 
ting the  common  object — and  from  single  corps  were 
soon  collected  county  regiments  and  provincial  armies 
ready  to  take  the  field  at  the  command  of  their  officers, 
and  to  sacrifice  their  lives  and  their  properties  for  the 
emancipation  of  their  country. 

Still,  however,  something  was  wanting  to  complete 
their  organization ;  provincial  armies  had  been  formed 
and  disciplined,  but  still  these  armies  were  independent 
of  each  other — there  was  no  general  head,  to  put  the 
whole  in  motion — no  individual  to  whom  all  would  own 
obedience,  and  such  an  appointment  seemed  indispensa- 
bly essential  to  secure  their  co-operation. 

But  this  was  a  task  more  serious  and  more  difficult  than 
had  yet  occurred.  Where  could  be  found  the  man, 
whose  integrity  was  incorruptible — whose  wisdom  was 
profound,  whose  courage  was  invincible,  yet  whose 
moderation  was  conspicuous,  and  whose  popularity  was 
extensive  ?  Ireland  could  not  boast  a  Washington,  yet 
so  critical  was  her  situation  at  that  moment,  that  a  com- 
bination of  all  these  qualities  seemed  to  be  requisite  in 
the  person  to  whom  should  be  entrusted  the  guidance  ot 
eighty  thousand  patriot  soldiers.  Such  a  personage  was 
not  to  be  discovered ;  and  it  was  only  left  to  the  Volun- 
teers to  select  the  purest  character  of  that  day,  and  leave 


88  RISE    AND    FALL 

his  guidance  to  the  councils  less  of  the  concurring  than 
of  the  counteracting  qualities  of  the  inferior  commanders. 

XII.  Public  iffairs  in  Ireland  now  began  to  wear  a 
serious  and  alaiming  aspect.  The  Leinster  army  appointed 
the  Earl  of  Charlemont  its  commander  in  chief,  the  other 
armies  proceeded  rapidly  in  their  organization.  Provin- 
cial reviews  were  adopted ;  and  every  thing  assumed  the 
appearance  of  systematic  movement. 

The  elevation  of  Lord  Charlemont  to  that  high  com- 
mand, though  it  formed  a  more  decided  military  establish- 
ment for  the  Volunteer  army,  was  probably  the  very 
means  of  preserving  the  connection  between  the  two 
countries  ;  had  the  same  confidence  and  command  been 
entrusted  to  a  more  ardent  or  ambitious  character,  it 
might  have  been  difficult  to  calculate  on  the  result  of 
combining  an  intemperate  leader  with  an  impatient  army, 
but  the  moderation  of  Lord  Charlemont  gave  a  tone  and 
a  steadiness  to  the  proceedings  of  the  people,  which  might 
otherwise  have  pointed  to  a  distinct  independence.  His 
character  had  long  preceded  his  elevation ;  in  the  North, 
his  influence  was  unlimited,  and  though  the  Southern  and 
Western  Volunteers  had  not  as  yet  consolidated  their 
force  with  the  other  provinces,  they  were  in  a  high  state 
of  discipline  and  preparation,  and  soon  adopted  the  same 
principles,  which  the  appointment  of  the  Earl  of  Char- 
lemont had  now  diffused  through  the  other  parts  of  the 
Nation. 

From  the  first  moment  that  James  Earl  of  Charlemont 
embarked  in  Irish  politics,  he  prover1  himself  to  be  one 
of  the  most  honest  and  dignified  rvr  nonages  that  can  be 
traced  in  the  annals  of  Irish  history ;  the  love  of  his 
country  was  interwoven  with  his  existence — their  union 
was  complete,  their  separation  impossible  ;  but  his  talents 
were  rather  of  the  conducting  class,  and  his  wisdom  of  a 
deliberative  nature — his  mind  was  more  pure  than 
vigorous — more  elegant  than  powerful — and  his  capacity 
seemed  better  adapted  to  counsel  in  peace,  than  to  com- 
mand in  war. 

Though  he  was  not  devoid  of  ambition,  and  was  proud 
of  his  popularity,  his  principles  were  calm,  and  his 
moderation  predominant ; — for  some  years  at  the  head  of 
a  great  army  in  the  heart  of  a  powerful  people — in  tho 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  89 

hand  of  an  injured  nation — during  the  most  critical 
epoch  that  a  kingdom  ever  experienced — he  conducted 
the  Irish  nation  with  incredible  temperance — and,  in  the 
midst  of  tempests,  he  flowed  on,  in  an  unruffled  stream, 
fertilizing  the  plain  of  liberty,  and  enlarging  the  channel 
of  independence — but  too  smooth  and  too  gentle  to  turn 
the  vast  machinery  of  revolution. 

His  view  of  political  objects,  though  always  honest  was 
frequently  erroneous ; — small  objects  sometimes  appeared 
too  important,  and  great  ones  too  hazardous  ; — though  he 
would  not  actually  temporize,  he  could  be  seduced  to 
hesitate — yet  even  when  his  decision  was  found  wander- 
ing from  the  point  of  its  destination,  it  was  invariably 
discoverable  that  discretion  was  the  seducer. 

Had  the  unwise  pertinacity  of  England  persisted  in 
her  errors,  and  plunged  his  country  into  more  active 
contest,  his  mildness — his  constitution — and  his  love  of 
order — would  have  unadapted  him  to  the  vicissitudes  of 
civil  commotion,  or  the  energetic  promptitude  of  military 
tactics ; — but  fortunately  the  adoption  of  his  counsels 
rendered  his  sword  unnecessary ;  and  by  the  selection  of 
one  man,  to  combat  for  the  liberties  of  Ireland,  he  raised 
a  youthful  champion  for  his  country,  whose  sling  soon 
levelled  the  giant  of  usurpation,  and  he  wound  a  laurel 
round  the  bust  of  the  deliverer,  which  will  remain  un- 
faded,  till  the  very  name  of  Ireland  shall  be  obliterated 
from  amongst  nations. 

His  indisposition  to  the  extent  of  Catholic  liberty — 
nourished  by  the  prejudice  of  the  times — was  diminished 
by  the  patriotism  of  the  people  ; — the  Catholics  of  1780 
preferred  their  country  to  the  claims,  as  those  of  1800 
preferred  their  claims  to  their  country — and  amongst 
that  people  he  gained  by  his  h  mesty,  what  he  lost  by  his 
intolerance,  and  lived- just  long  enough  to  experience  and 
to  mourn  the  fallibility  of  his  predictions. 

Around  this  Nobleman  the  Irish  Volunteers  flocked  as 
around  a  fortress ; — the  standard  of  liberty  was  supported 
by  his  character — the  unity  of  the  Empire  was  protected 
by  his  wisdom ;  and  as  if  Providence  had  attached  him 
to  the  destinies  of  Ireland,  he  arose-  he  flourished- -and 
he  sunk  with  his  country. 

8* 


RISE    AND    FALL 


CHAPTER    V 

Spirit  of  the  Irish  and  humiliation  of  the  English  Government — Prepare 
tion  for  hostilities — Lord  North's  embarrassment — King's  conciliatory 
speech  and  the  consequent  proceedings — Duplicity  of  Ministers — Th* 
people  alarmed — Volunteer  Organization  proceeds — Mutiny  Bill — 
Alarming  rencontre  of  the  Volunteers  and  Regular  Army — Intoleranoi 
of  England — Further  Grievances  of  Ireland — Proceedings  in  the  Irish 
Pnrliament — O'Neill  of  Shane's  Castle — His  character  and  influenc* 
— Address  to  the  Volunteers — Its  results 

i,  The  British  Government  at  length  awakened  from 
their  slumbers — their  dreams  of  power  and  security  now 
vanished  before  the  view  of  their  increasing  dangers ; — a 
reliance  on  the  omnipotence  of  English  power — at  all 
times  chimerical — would  now  have  been  presumptuous ; — 
the  Irish  nation,  to  whose  bravery  and  whose  blood  the 
victories  and  conquests  of  Britain  had  been  so  eminently 
indebted,  now  called  imperatively  for  their  own  rights, 
and  demanded  a  full  participation  of  that  constitution,  in 
support  of  which  they  had  daily  sacrificed  so  great  a 
proportion  of  their  treasure  and  their  population. 

The  Irish  soldier  and  the  Irish  seaman  could  never  be 
supposed  to  remain  unfeeling  spectators,  whilst  their 
own  country  was  struggling  for  its  dearest  liberties,  or 
become  the  mercenary  instruments  of  their  own  subju- 
gation. Even  their  indisposition  to  the  British  service 
would  have  reduced  the  armies  and  navy  to  debility , 
but  their  defections  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  power 
of  Great  Britain,  and  have  enabled  Ireland  irresistibly  to 
effect  her  total  independence.  The  balance  of  Europe 
was  likely  to  undergo  a  great  change  ; — the  improvident 
attachment  to  continental  politics — almost  exclusively 
engrossed  the  attention  of  England ;  and  the  completion 
of  a  mercenary  league  with  a  petty  potentate  of  a  Ger- 
manic principality,  inferior  even  to  one  Irish  county  w&n 
considered  of  more  importance  by  the  British  Cabinet, 
than  all  the  miseries,  the  dangers,  and  oppressions  ai 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  91 

Ireland.  But  the  British  Government  now  perceived 
their  error,  when  it  was  too  late  to  temporize—  and  that 
arrogance,  which,  for  centuries,  had  hardly  condescended 
to  hear  her  groans,  was  now  started  into  attention. 

II.  Affairs  now  approached  fast  towards  a  crisis ;  the 
freedom  of  commerce  being  the  subject  most  familiar  and 
comprehensible  to  the  ideas  of  the  people,  was  the  first 
object  of  their  solicitude.  "  A  Free  Trade"  became  the 
watchword  of  the  Volunteers,  and  the  cry  of  the  Nation ; 
— the  Dublin  Volunteer  Artillery  appeared  on  parade, 
commanded  by  James  INapper  Tandy,  with  labels  on  the 
mouths  of  their  cannon,  i;  Free  Trade  or  speedy  Revo- 
lution ;  placards  were  pasted  up  in  every  part  of  the  city, 
to  the  same  effect,  until  the  determined  proceedings  of 
ail  ranks  and  classes  of  the  people,  connected  with  the 
operation  of  the  non-importation  agreements,  left  no  fur- 
ther room  for  ministerial  procrastination. 

The  British  Minister  now  became  alarmed,  and  trem- 
bled for  the  consequences  of  his  political  intolerance ;  he 
had  no  passage  to  retreat  by,  and  after  every  struggle 
which  circumstances  could  admit  of,  the  British  Cabinet 
at  length  came  to  a  resolution,  that  "  something  must  be 
done  to  tranquilize  Ireland."  The  King  was  informed  of 
their  determination,  and  was  prevailed  upon  to  accede  to 
it.  His  Majesty  had  received  a  severe  shock,  by  the  unex- 
pected events  of  the  American  contest,  and  the  additional 
mortification  of  compulsory  concessions  to  Ireland,  was 
little  calculated  to  tranquilize  his  feelings  ;  however, 
absolute  necessity  required  his  acquiescence ;  and  it  was 
finally  determined,  by  the  executive  Power  of  Great 
Britain,  to  adopt  means,  if  not  altogether  to  satisfy,  at 
least  to  conciliate  and  to  concede  considerably  to  Ireland. 

From  this  determination,  the  affairs  in  the  British 
Umpire  began  to  wear  a  new  aspect ;  the  day  was  fast 
approaching  when  England,  for  the  first  time,  must  con- 
descend to  acknowledge  her  o  wn  errors,  and,  in  the  face 
of  Europe,  to  humble  herself  before  a  people,  who  had, 
for  six  centuries,  been  the  slaves  of  her  power  rather 
than  the  subjects  of  her  affection. 

Lord  North  had  now  a  more  difficult  task  to  perform 
than  he  at  first  conceived,  to  recant  his  avowed  principles, 
to  humble  the  pride  of  his  own  country,  and  submit  to  the 


92  RISE    AND    FALL 

justice  of  another,  and  above  all,  to  justify  his  own  con- 
duct, which  had  reduced  both  countries  to  that  state 
which  required  those  concessions  :  an  awful  lesson  to  all 
Governments,  how  cautiously  they  should  arrogate  to 
themselves  a  dominion,  of  which  the  basis  was  power 
and  the  superstructure  injustice. 

III.  But  all  subterfuge  had  ended,  and  on  the  24th  of 
November,  1782,  his  Majesty  ascended  the  throne,  to 
proclaim  his  first  substantial  act  of  grace  to  the  Irish 
nation,  and  to  call  the  immediate  attention  of  his  British 
Parliament  to  the  situation  of  that  country,*  but  his 
Majesty  obviously  insinuated,  that  his  attention  to  Ireland 
was  attracted  by  a  consideration  for  the  safety  of  Great 
Britain — and  that  the  benefits  to  be  extended  to  Ireland 
should  be  only  such  as  would  be  for  the  common  interest, 
not  of  Ireland  abstractedly,  but  of  all  his  dominions — 
and  by  that  very  act  of  conceding  to  Ireland,  he  virtually 
asserted  the  supremacy  of  the  British  Parliament. 

This  speech  was  immediately  attended  to  by  the  British 
Parliament ;  the  opposition  received  it  as  a  triumph  over 
the  Minister,  and  gladly  acceded  to  a  declaration  which 
proclaimed  the  imbecility  and  misconduct  of  the  Cabinet. 
An  actual  insurrection  in  Ireland — the  certain  conse- 
quence of  further  inattention — would  have  certainly  de- 
prived the  Minister  of  his  station,  and  perhaps  eventually 
of  his  head. 

A  coincidence  of  events  thus  united  two  hostile  inter- 


•  That  clause  of  his  Majesty's  speech,  which  related  to  Ireland,  ran 

as  follows: 

"  In  the  midst  of  my  care  and  solicitude  for  the  safety  and  welfare  of 
this  country,  I  have  not  been  inattentive  to  the  state  of  my  loyal  and 
faithful  kingdom  of  Ireland.  I  have  (in  consequence  of  your  addres- 
ses, presented  to  me  in  the  last  session)  ordered  such  papers  to  be  col- 
lected and  laid  before  you,  as  may  assist  your  deliberations  on  this  im- 
portant business;  and  I  recommend  it  to  you  to  consider  what  furtheb, 
benefits  and  advantages  may  be  extended  to  that  kingdom,  by  such  regu- 
lations and  such  methods,  as  may  most  effectually  promote  the  common 
strength,  wealth,  and  interests  of  all  my  dominions." 

This  was  quickly  followed  up  by  resolutions — giving  the  lie  direct  to 
King  William,  and' to  the  assertions  of  iheir  own  ancestors — and  by  pass- 
ing bills,  distinctly  repealing  all  the  acts  which  their  predecessors  had 
declared  absolutely  essential  to  secure  the  prosperity  of  England  from  tb« 
dangerous  industry  of  the  Irish 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  93 

ests  in  one  honest  object ;  and  Ireland  was  destined  to 
receive,  through  the  ambition  of  one  party,  and  the 
terror  of  another,  those  rights  which  she  had  so  long  in 
vain  solicited  from  their  justice. 

This  speech  was  immediately  followed  by  the  measures 
recommended  by  his  Majesty,  and  the  same  Parliament 
which  had  so  repeatedly  withheld  the  just  rights  of  Ire- 
land, now  thought  they  could  not  too  hastily  accede  to 
her  claims  ;  and  hardly  a  day  was  omitted,  till  the  pro- 
posed arrangement  was  proceeded  on.* 

Messages  were  sent  over  to  Ireland,  to  announce  the 
happy  tidings  to  the  people,  and  emissaries  were  dis 
persed  over  every  part  of  the  kingdom,  to  blazon  tht 
liberality  and  justice  of  Great  Britain. 

IY.  The  Minister,  however,  justly  suspecting,  that  so 
soon  as  the  paroxysms  of  Irish  gratitude,  for  this  unac- 
customed condescension,  should  subside,  and  give  way 
to  calm  reflection,  that  nation  could  not  avoid  perceiving, 
that  until  their  constitution  became  independent,  and  the 
usurpation  of  England  should  be  altogether  acknow- 
ledged, these  favours  could  have  no  stability,  and  might 
be  revoked,  at  a  more  favourable  opportunity,  by  the 
same  authority  which  originally  conceded  them. 

To  obviate  these  feelings,  the  Minister  continued  the 
Committee  on  Irish  affairs  open  from  time  to  time,  now 
and  then  passing  a  resolution  in  favour  of  that  country, 
and  thus  endeavouring  to  wear  out  the  session,  which  he, 
no  doubt,  intended  should  terminate  his  favours. 

The  whole  nation  at  length  perceived  the  duplicity 
of  proceedings  which,  while  they  purported  to  extend 
oeneiits  to  Ireland,  asserted  the  paramount  authority  of 
Great  Britain,  and  converted  its  acts  of  concession  into 
declaratory  statutes  of  its  own  supremacy. 

Reasoning  of  this  nature  soon  made  a  deep  impression 
on  the  public  mind,  and  meetings  were  held  throughout 
the  kingdom,  to  declare  the  national  feeling  on  this  im- 
portant subject ;  fourteen  counties  at  once  avowed  theii 
determination  to  tear  down  these  barriers  which  excluded 
them  from  a  full  participation  of  the  British  constitution, 

•  The  British  Parliament  met  the  25th  >f  November,  and  the  first  bills 
of  concession  received  the  royal  assent  the  21st  December. 


94  RISE    AND    FALL 

and  to  establish,  at  the  risk  of  their  lives  and  fortune^ 
the  independence  of  the  Irish  legislature,  beyond  tb* 
power  of  British  re-assumption.* 

This  spirit  and  this  determination  spread  themselves" 
universally  amongst  the  people ;  the  cry  of  "  Free  Trade  n 
was  now  accompanied  with  that  of  "  Free  Parliament? 
aud  that  patriotic  enthusiasm  which  had  so  effectually 
asserted  the  commerce  of  Ireland,  now  arose  with  double 
vigour  to  assert  its  constitution. 

V.  The  Volunteer  army,  in  the  mean  time,  rapidly 
advanced  in  discipline  and  numbers :  the  success  which 
had  attended  this  first  effort  of  their  steadiness  acted  as 
a  powerful  incitement  to  the  continuation  of  their  exer- 
tion ;  they  felt,  with  exultation,  that  at  the  very  time 
they  were  in  arms,  without  the  authority  of  the  Crown, 
or  control  of  their  Sovereign,  his  Majesty,  from  his 
throne,  condescended  to  pass  unqualified  eulogiums  on 
theloyalty  and  fidelity  of  the  people — expressions,  which, 
if  considered  with  reference  to  the  King,  were  gracious — 
but  with  reference  to  the  Government,  which  framed 
them,  were  clearly  intended  as  an  anodyne  to  lull  that 
spirit  which  durst  not  be  encountered. 

Provincial  reviews  of  the  Volunteer  armies  were  now 

*  As  the  genius  and  disposition  of  a  people  are  often  discoverable,  not 
only  by  trivial  but  ludicrous  circumstances,  so  their  national  poetry  and 
music  have  a  very  considerable  effect  in  rousing  the  spirit,  and  disclosing 
the  character.  At  this  period  the  press  teemed  with  publications  of  every 
quality,  in  prose  and  verse,  on  the  subject  of  fresh  grievances.  A  stanza 
from  one  of  the  popular  songs  of  that  day,  shows  the  pointed  humour 
and  whimsical  lightness  which  characterize  that  people  even  upon  the 
most  important  subjects. 

In  alluding  to  the  Irish  being  deprived  of  the  woollen  trade  by  Ens- 
fond,  and  the  military  associations  of  Ireland  to  assert  her  liberty,  the 
stanza  runs  thus : 

"  Was  she  not  a  fool, 

When  she  took  of  our  wool, 

To  leave  us  so  much  of  the 

leather,  the  leather  ? 

It  ne'er  entered  her  pate, 

That  a  sheep 's  skin,  well  beat, 

Would  draw  a  whole  nation 

TOGETHER,   TOGETHER." 

These  words  were  adapted  to  a  popular  air,  and  became  a  favourite 
march  of  the  Volunteers,  and  a  patriotic  song  amongst  the  peasant!? 
throughout  the  kingdom 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  99 

adopted,  and  a  more  regular  staff  appointed  to  the  gene* 
ral  officers ;  new  trains  of  artillery  were  formed — that  of 
Belfast  was  brought  to  considerable  perfection.  Earl 
Oharlemont  was  called  on  to  review  the  Northern  army; 
on  his  tour  he  was  attended  by  many  persons  of  the 
highest  distinction,  aud  his  suit  had  all  the  appearance 
of  military  dignity  and  national  importance.  His  Loid- 
ship  returned  to  review  the  Leinster  corps  in  Dublin. 
His  aid-de-camps  were  men  of  the  highest  character  and 
of  the  first  ability.  Barry  Yelverton,  Hussey  Bmgh 
(both  of  whom  were  afterwards  Chief  Barons  of  the 
Exchequer,)  and  Mr.  Grattan,  were  on  his  staff. 

The  Volunteer  army  had  acquired  the  discipline  of  an 
efficient  force,  and  at  that  period  amounted  to  above 
eighty  thousand  soldiers,  ready  for  actual  service,  aided 
by  the  zeal,  the  prayers,  and  the  co-operation,  of  nearly 
five  millions  unarmed  inhabitants. 

The  British  Government,  which  had  vainly  supposed 
that  enough  had  been  done,  if  not  to  satisfy,  at  least 
somewhat  to  disunite  the  Irish  people,  now  perceived 
how  ill  they  had  calculated  on  the  character  of  that  na- 
tion, and  felt,  with  pain  and  disappointment,  the  futility 
of  their  designs,  and  the  feebleness  of  their  authority. 

The  dilemma  of  the  Minister  was  difficult  and  dis- 
tressing ;  any  effort  to  seduce  the  Volunteers  would  have 
roused — any  attempt  to  dupe  them  would  but  inflame, 
and  to  resist  them  would  have  been  impossible :  dis- 
tracted, therefore,  by  every  species  of  embarrassment,  he 
suffered  the  Irish  nation  to  pursue  its  course  without 
direct  opposition,  and  trusted  to  the  chance  of  events  for 
the  preservation  of  the  empire. 

Grave  and  most  important  circumstances  now  opened 
to  the  public  view,  and  imperatively  concurred  to  put 
the  constitutional  claims  of  Ireland  directly  in  issue  with 
the  British  legislature. 

The  army  in  Ireland  had  been  under  the  regulations 
of  a  British  statute ;  and  the  hereditary  revenue  of  the 
Crown,  with  the  aid  of  a  perpetual  mutiny  bill,  enabled 
the  British  Government  to  command  at  all  times  a  stand- 
ing army  in  Ireland,  without  the  authority  or  the  control 
of  its  Parliament. 

This  unconstitutional  power,  hitherto  almost  unnoticed 


9ti  RISE    AND    FALL 

in  Ireland,  now  that  the  principles  of  libe  ty  had  been 
disseminated  amongst  the  people,  and  that  an  indepen- 
dent army  of  Irishmen  had  been  organized,  became  a 
subject  of  general  dissatisfaction.  Some  patriotic  magis- 
trates determined  to  make  a  stand  upon  that  point,  and 
to  bring  the  legality  of  British  statutes,  as  operating  in 
Ireland,  into  issue,  through  the  medium  of  their  own 
conduct,  in  refusing  to  obey  them. 

To  effect  this  measure,  they  determined  to  resist  the 
authority  of  the  British  mutiny  act,  and  by  refusing  to 
billet  soldiers,  under  the  provisions  of  that  statute,  soli- 
cited complaints  against  themselves,  for  the  purpose  of 
trying  the  question. 

This  measure  would  at  once  have  put  Ireland  and  the 
usurpation  of  Great  Britain  in  direct  issue ;  but  the  Irish 

{'udges  were  then  dependent  upon  the  Crown;  they 
leld  their  offices  during  pleasure  only;  judges  might 
differ  with  the  juries — the  people  with  both — and  the 
result  of  a  trial  of  such  a  question,  in  such  a  way,  was 
considered  by  all  parties  as  too  precarious,  to  hazard  the 
experiment. 

The  career  of  independence  however  proceeded  with 
irresistible  impetuosity ;  a  general  feeling  arose  that  a 
crisis  was  fast  approaching,  when  the  tru^.  principles  of 
the  Irish  constitution  must  be  decisively  determined. 

Though  the  regular  forces  and  the  Volunteer  army 
were  on  the  most  amicable  terms,  yet  jealousies  might 
eventually  be  widened  into  a  breach,  pregnant  with  the 
most  disastrous  consequences.  This  was  an  extremity 
\  the  Viceroy  determined  to  avoid ;  and  orders  were  issued 
to  the  army,  to  show  every  possible  mark  of  respect  to 
the  Volunteers ;  their  officers  received  the  usual  military 
salute  from  the  regular  soldiers,  and  at  the  request  of 
the  Volunteers  a  few  troops  of  cavalry  were  ordered  by 
the  Lord  Lieutenant  to  assist  in  keeping  the  Volunteer 
lines  at  a  review  in'tne  I*ftfw*ix  Park.  But  an  accidental 
circumstance  some  time  afterwards  occurred,  which 
showed  the  necessity  for  cultivating  that  cordiality,  on 
the  continuation  of  which  the  tranquillity  of  the  nation  so 
entirely  depended. 

VI.  Lieutenant  Doyne,  of  the  second  regiment  of 
Horse,  marching  to  relieve  the  guards  in  Dublin  Castle. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  9? 

at  the  head  of  the  cavalry,  came  accidentally,  on  Essex 
Bridge,  directly  at  right  angles  with  a  line  of  Volunteer 
infantry  commanded  by  Lord  Altamont.  An  instant 
embarrassment  took  place — one  party  must  halt,  or  the 
other  could  not  pass :  neither  would  recede — etiquette 
seemed  likely  to  get  the  better  of  prudence — the  cavalry 
advanced — the  Volunteers  continued  their  progress,  till 
they  were  nearly  in  contact ;  never  did  a  more  critical 
moment  exist  in  Ireland.  Had  one  drop  of  blood  been 
shed,  through  the  impetuosity  of  either  officer,  even  in 
that  silly  question  of  precedence,  the  Irish  Volunteers 
would  have  beat  to  arms,  from  north  to  south,  in  every 
part  of  the  kingdom,  and  British  connection  would  cer- 
tainly been  shaken  to  its  very  foundation. 

As  the  cavalry  advanced,  Lord  Altamont  commanded 
bis  corps  to  continue  their  march,  and  incline  their 
bayonets,  so  as  to  be  ready  to  defend  their  line.  The 
cavalry  officer,  wisely  reflecting,  that  by  the  pause  even 
of  a  single  moment,  every  possibility  of  disagreement 
would  be  obviated,  halted  his  men  for  an  instant — the 
Volunteers  passed  on — and  the  affair  ended  without  fur- 
ther difficulty. 

This  circumstance,  however  trivial,  was  quickly  circu- 
lated, and  increased  the  public  clamour.  Resolutions 
were  entered  into  by  almost  every  military  corps,  and 
every  corporate  body,  that  they  would  no  longer  obey 
any  laws,  save  those  enacted  by  the  King,  Lords,  and 
Commons  of  Ireland;  and  this  spirit  gradually  embraced 
the  whole  population,  till  at  length  it  ended  in  the  cele- 
brated resolutions  of  Dungannon,  which  established  the 
short  lived  independence  of  that  nation. 

VII.  William  Duke  of  Leinster  had  long  been  the 
favourite  and  the  patron  of  the  Irish  people,  and  never 
did  the  physiognomist  enjoy  a  more  fortunate  elucidation 
of  his  science :  the  softness  of  philanthropy — the  placi- 
dity of  temper — the  openness, of  sincerity — the  sympathy 
of  friendship — and  the  ease  of  integrity — stamped  cor- 
responding impressions  on  his  artless  countenance,  and 
left  but  little  to  conjecture  as  to  the  composition  of  his 
character. 

His  elevated  rank  and  extensive  connections  gave  him 
k  paramount  lead  in  Irish  politics,  which  his  naked  talents 

0 


98  RISE    AND    FALL 

would  not  otherwise  have  justified  ;  though  his  capacity 
was  respectable,  it  was  not  brilliant,  and  his  abilities 
were  not  adapted  to  the  highest  class  of  political  pre- 
eminence.* On  public  subjects,  his  conduct  sometimes 
wanted  energy,  and  his  pursuits  perseverance ;  in  some 
points  he  was  weak,  and  in  some  instances  erroneous, 
but  in  all  he  was  honest :  from  the  day  of  his  maturity 
to  the  moment  of  his  dissolution  he  was  the  undeviating 
friend  of  the  Irish  nation — he  considered  its  interests  and 
his  own  indissolubly  connected — alive  to  the  oppressions 
and  miseries  of  the  people,  his  feeling  heart  participated 
in  their  misfortunes,  and  felt  the  smart  of  every  lash 
which  the  scourge  of  power  inflicted  on  his  country.  As 
a  soldier,  and  as  a  patriot,  he  performed  his  duties ;  and 
in  his  plain  and  honourable  disposition,  was  found  col- 
lected a  happy  specimen  of  those  qualities  which  best 
compose  the  character  of  an  Irish  gentleman. 

He  took  an  early  and  active  part  in  promoting  the  for- 
mation and  discipline  of  the  Volunteer  associations,  he 
raised  many  corps  and  commanded  the  Dublin  Army. 
The  ancient  celebrity  of  his  family,  the  vast  extent  of  his 
possessions,  and  his  affability  in  private  intercourse,  co- 
operated with  his  own  popularity  in  extending  his  in- 
fluence and  few  persons  ever  enjoyed-  a  more  general  and 
merited  influence  amongst  the  Irish  people. 

The  Irish  Catholics,  at  this  period,  were  much  attached 
to  the  Gerald ines,  and  pursued  a  conduct  so  meritorious, 
that  even  the  bitterest  enemies  of  that  body  acknowledged 
the  uncommon  merit  of  their  conduct :  their  open  friends 
multiplied,  their  secret  enemies  diminished,  and  they 
gradually  worked  themselves  into  the  favour  and  confi- 
dence of  their  Protestant  countrymen,  though  loaded  with 
severe  restrictions,  though  put  out  of  the  pale  of  the 
British  constitution,  and  groaning  under  the  most  cruel 
and  unjust  oppression,  they  were  active  and  patriotic, 
they  forgot  the  tyranny  under  which  they  groaned,  and 
only  felt  the  chains  which  fettered  and  oppressed  their 
country;  a  general  union  of  all  sects  seemed  to  be  cement- 
ing— the  animosity  of  ages  was  sinking  into  oblivion,  and 

*  The  political  abilities  of  his  Grace  were  likened,  by  a  gentleman  ol 
great  public  talent,  to  "  a  fair  fertile  field,  without  either  a  weed  or  i 
wild  flower  in  it." 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION  99 

It  was  reserved  for  the  incendiaries  of  a  ater  period  to 
revive  that  barbarous  sectarian  discord — a  weapon,  with- 
out which  the  British  Government  would  have  ever  found 
Ireland  too  proud  for  the  influence  of  power,  and  too 
strong  for  the  grasp  of  annexation. 

The  doctrine  of  pure  democracy  was  then  but  a  weak 
exotic,  to  which  the  heat  of  civil  war  in  America  had 
given  the  principle  of  vegetation.  In  Ireland,  it  was 
uncongenial  to  the  minds,  and  unadapted  to  the  character 
of  the  people ;  and  during  the  whole  progress  of  those 
events,  which  preceded  the  attainment  of  Irish  indepen- 
dence, its  progress  was  only  observable  in  the  intimate 
association  of  the  distant  ranks  in  military  bodies,  and 
the  idea  of  revolution  never  extended  further  than  to 
attain  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  a  free  Parliament, 
and  to  remove  for  ever  the  ascendency  of  the  British 
Government  over  the  crown  of  Ireland. 

VIII.  Notwithstanding  all  these  occurrences,  the 
British  people,  in  their  nature  jealous  and  egotistical, 
still  remained  obstinately  blind  to  the  true  state  of  Ire- 
land enjoying  the  blessings  of  independence,  under  a 
resident  monarch  and  an  unfettered  parliament — they 
felt  interested  only  in  their  own  aggrandizement — then 
solicitude  extended  solely  to  their  own  concerns — and 
without  reflecting  that  the  same  advantages  which  they 
so  liberally  possessed,  were  denied  to  Ireland,  they  attri- 
buted the  uneasiness  of  that  nation  rather  to  innate 
principles  of  disaffection,  than  the  natural  result  of  misery 
and  oppression. 

Every  element  of  a  free  constitution  had  been  torn 
away  by  the  rough  hand  of  a  foreign  legislature,  enacting 
laws,  to  which  the  representatives  of  the  Irish  people 
were  utter  strangers.  Yet  this  usurpation  had  been 
sanctioned  by  the  dictum  of  a  British  judge,  who  added 
to  his  reputation,  by  giving  an  unqualified  opinion  for 
Irish  slavery.* 

*  It  is  painful  to  see  a  British  judge  and  commentor— whose  duty  it 
was  at  least  to  respect  the  vital  principles  of  that  constitution  under  which 
he  acted — giving  a  decisive  opinion  for  "  legislation  without  representa- 
tives," and,  in  the  case  of  Ireland,  condemning  that  sentinel,  by  whow 
vigilance  alone  the  property,  the  liberty,  and  the  lives  of  Englishman 
we  protected. 


[00  RISE    AND    FALL 

IX.  The  salaries  of  the  Judges  of  Ireland  were  then 
barely  sufficient  to  keep  them  above  want,  and  they  held 
their  offices  only  during  the  will  of  the  British  Minister, 
who  might  remove  them  at  his  pleasure :  all  Irish  justice, 
therefore,  was  at  his  control.  In  all  questions  between 
the  Crown  and  the  people,  the  purity  of  the  judge  was 
consequently  suspected :  if  he  could  not  be  corrupted,  he 
might  be  cashiered,  the  dignity  of  his  office  was  lost  in 
his  dependence,  and  he  was  reduced  to  the  sad  alternative 
of  poverty  or  dishonour ;  nor  was  this  grievance  lessened 
by  many  of  the  judges  being  sent  over  from  England, 
prejudiced  against  the  Irish,  and  unacquainted  with 
tfieir  customs. 

The  Irish  Parliament,  at  this  period,  met  but  once  in 
two  years,  and  in  the  British  Attorney  General  was 
vested  the  superintendence  of  their  proceedings,  and  the 
British  Privy  Council  the  alteration  and  rejection  of  their 
statutes  ;  and  the  declination  or  ruin  of  her  commerce 
was  at  least  a  matter  of  indifference,  if  not  of  triumph,  to 
ihe  British  monopolists. 

These  grievances,  in  themselves  almost  intolerable, 
were  greatly  aggravated  by  the  abuses  which  had  been 
creeping  into  the  executive  and  legislative  department  of 
the  British  Government,  and  infected  every  proceeding 
adopted  as  to  Ireland. 

X.  However,  the  British  Government  found  that 
resistance  had  now  become  impossible,  and  something 
more  must  be  done.  The  Irish  Viceroy,  therefore,  was 
instructed  to  act  according  to  the  best  of  his  judgment. 
Accordingly,  on  the  9th  of  October,  1781,  he,  for  the  first 
time  met  the  Irish  Parliament  with  a  speech  from  the 
throne  ;  which,  though  received  with  great  cordiality  by 
the  House,  upon  a  close  investigation,  appears  a  compo- 
sition of  the  most  Jesuitical  sophistry ;  it  complimented 
the  country  on  a  prosperity  which  it  never  enjoyed — 
expressed  a  solicitude  tor  its  interest,  which  was  never 
experienced,  and  promised  future  favours,  which  were 
never  intended  to  be  conceded,  and  was  mingled,  at  the 

His  zeal  to  support  this  arbitrary  principle  over  Ireland,  blinded  him 
to  its  operation  as  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  disentitled  him  rather  to  th« 
character  of  a  constitutional  lawyer,  and  stamped  him  with  that  of  a 
miserable  statesman. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  101 

same  time  with  recommendations  the  most  vague,  and 
observations  the  most  frivolous.  The  good  temper  of  the 
House,  however,  was  so  excited  by  the  cordial  assurances 
it  contained,  it  was  received  with  general  approbation, 
and  Mr.  John  O'Neill,  of  Shane's  Castle,  the  first  Com- 
moner of  Ireland,  was  very  wisely  prevailed  upon,  by  the 
Secretary,  to  move  an  address  of  thanks  to  his  Majesty, 
for  this  gracious  communication  of  his  minister  with  a 
view  that  the  weight  and  character  of  this  gentleman 
might  excite  that  unanimity  at  the  present  crisis  so  very 
desirable,  and  which  must  be  so  highly  advantageous  to 
the  Irish  Government. 

Mr.  John  O'Neill,  descended  from  the  most  celebrated 
chiefs  of  ancient  Ireland,  bore  in  his  portly  and  graceful 
mien  indications  of  a  proud  and  illustrious  pedigree  ;  the 
generous  openness  of  his  countenance,  the  grandeur  of  his 
person,  and  the  affability  of  his  address,  marked  the 
dignity  of  his  character,  and  blending  with  the  benevolence 
of  his  disposition,  formed  him  one  of  the  first  Commoners 
of  the  Irish  nation,  a  rank  from  which  he  so  unfortunately 
sunk,  by  humbling  his  name  to  the  level  of  purchased 
peerages,  and  descending  from  the  highest  bench  of  the 
Commons  to  the  lowest  among  the  Nobles. 

In  public  and  in  private  life  Mr.  O'Neill  was  equally 
calculated  to  command  respect,  and  conciliate  affection ; 
high  minded,  open,  and  well  educated,  he  clothed  the 
sentiments  of  a  patriot  in  the  language  of  a  gentleman ; 
his  abilities  were  moderate,  but  his  understanding  was 
sound — unsuspecting,  because  he  was  himself  incapable 
of  deception,  he  too  frequently  trusted  to  the  judgment  of 
others  that  conduct  which  would  have  been  far  more 
respectably  regulated  by  his  own;  though  he  did  not 
shrink  from  the  approbation  of  the  court,  he  preferred 
the  applauses  of  his  country,  and  formed  one  of  the  most 
perfect  models  of  an  aristocratic  patriot. 

This  step,  however,  was  instantly  succeeded  by  a 
measure,  which  did  honour  to  the  patriotic  spirit  of  Mr. 
O'Neill,  and  preserved  his  character  in  that  station,  from 
whi:h  it  might  have  sunk  had  he  concluded  his  observa- 
tions, by  the  fulsome  and  indecisive  address  which  he  had 
10  injudiciously  patronized. 

As  soon  as  the  address  to  bis  Majesty  had  passed,  Mr 
9* 


l(*2  RISE    AND    FALL 

O'Neill  moved  a  resolution  of  thanks  to  u  all  the  Volun- 
teers of  Ireland,  tor  their  exertions  and  continuance." 
This  motion  was  received  with  exultation  by  the  opposition 
and  created  a  new  embarrassment  to  the  Minister.  To 
return  thanks  to  an  independent  army  for  their  exertions 
and  continuance,  which  acknowledged  no  military  supe- 
riority, and  called,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  upon  their 
Irish  king  to  restore  their  civil  rights  and  plundered  con- 
stitution, was  a  step,  undoubtedly,  not  warranted  by 
precedent;  but  prompt  decision  was  necessary,  and  the 
then  Mr.  John  Fitzgibbon,  in  one  of  the  first  efforts  of 
that  decided  but  inconsiderate  impetuosity  which  distin- 
guished him  throughout  life,  harshly  opposed  Mr.  O'Neill's 
motion,  but  by  endeavouring  to  support  Government  he 
deeply  embarrassed  it ;  and  Mr.  Scott  the  Attorney 
General,  on  that  occasion  showed,  in  its  strongest  colours 
the  advantages  of  well  regulated  policy.  He  instantly 
acceded  to  what  he  could  not  oppose,  and  gave  an 
appearance  of  full  approbation  on  the  part  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  an  address  of  thanks  to  those  men,  whom  nothing 
but  that  political  duplicity  which  he  so  amply  possessed, 
could  have  induced  him  to  consent  to. 

All  opposition  to  the  motion,  therefore,  fell  to  the 
ground.  Mr.  Fitzgibbon,who,  however,  never  relinquished 
an  object,  from  a  conviction  of  its  impropriety,  though  he 
persisted  in  his  opposition,  was  reluctantly  necessitated  to 
give  way,  and  an  address  to  the  armed  Volunteers  of  Ire- 
land was  unanimously  voted,  and  directed  to  be  circulated 
throughout  all  Ireland,  and  to  be  communicated  by  the 
Sheriffs  of  the  counties  to  the  corps  within  their  bailiwicks. 

Never  had  a  measure  been  adopted,  which  gave  so 
sudden  and  singular  a  change  to  the  aspect  of  affairs  in 
Ireland.  It  seemed  to  reverse  all  the  maxims  of  former 
Governments,  and  gave  to  the  people  an  ascendency  they 
had  never  expected.  It  legalized  a  military  levy,  inde- 
pendent of  the  Sovereign,  and  obliged  the  Ministers  to 
applaud  the  exertions,  and  court  the  continuance  of  an 
army,  whose  dispersion  was  the  leading  object  of  all 
their  councils. 

This  resolution  made  a  considerable  progress  towards 
the  actual  emancipation  of  the  Irish  people ;  it  brought 
down  the  British  Government  to  the  feet  of  the  Volun- 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  10CI 

leers,  and  raised  the  Volunteers  above  the  supremacy  o' 
Britain,  by  a  direct  Parliamentary  approbation  of  self- 
armed,  self-governed,  and  self-disc,  plined  associations, 
whose  motto*  bespoke  the  fundamental  principle  of  revo- 
lution of  which  England  had  given  the  precedent. 

It  also  taught  the  people  the  strength  of  their  own 
arms  and  the  timidity  of  their  opponents,  they  perceived 
by  the  unanimous  adoption  of  this  resolution,  that  the 
people  had  only  to  march,  and  as  certainly  to  conquer. 
It  was,  in  fact,  a  flag  of  truce  from  the  minister,  and  proved 
to  the  world,  that  unable  to  contend  he  was  preparing  to 
capitulate. 

In  reflecting  on  the  circumstances  which  led  the 
Government  to  this  concession,  observations  on  the  moral 
and  physical  strength  of  the  nation  must  naturally  occur. 
The  Irish  nation  saturated  with  patriotic  spirit,  by  a  union 
of  its  mental  and  corporeal  energies,  had  united  in  its 
narrow  focus  all  the  moral  and  physical  powers  of  which 
a  people  are  susceptible. 

*  The  motto  of  the  Barristers'  corps  of  Volunteers,  which  alwayi 
took  the  lead  of,  and,  in  most  instances,  gave  the  precedent  to,  all  the 
pther  corps,  was — "  Vox  Populi  suprema  Lex  est" — a  maxim  which, 
irhilst  it  gives  the  widest  latitude  of  construction  to  *he  first  principle* 
if  the  constitution,  would  open  too  wide  a  door  to  democratic  authority, 
fciless  guarded  against  by  the  system  of  delegated  representation 


104  RISE    AND    FALL 


CHAPTER    VI 

Observations  as  to  the  strength  of  a  people — German  mercenaries — Fur- 
ther subject  of  discontent  in  Ireland — Dispute  between  Ireland  and 
Portugal — Portugal  encouraged  in  her  hostility  towards  Ireland  by  the 
British  Minister — Perseverance  of  Portugal — Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  motior 
— Sir  Lucius  O'Brien — Proposes  that  Ireland  in  her  own  right  should 
declare  war  against  Portugal — Sir  J.  Blaquiere — Effects  of  Sir  Lucius 
O'Brien's  amendment — Distinctness  of  Ireland  proved — Federative 
compact— Arguments  for  and  against  prompt  proceedings — Spirited 
reasoning  of  the  Irish — No  Habeas  Corpus  Act  in  Ireland — Determi- 
nation of  the  Volunteers — Origin  and  progress  of  delegated  assemblies 
— The  Northern  Irish — Dungannon  meeting — Mr.  Dobbs — Extraordi- 
nary mind — His  eccentricity — Theories — Colonel  Irwin — Account  of 
the  Dungannon  meeting  continued — Dungannon  resolutions. 

I.  When  the  physical  strength  only  of  a  nation  is  em- 
ployed in  the  accomplishment  of  its  objects,  however 
great  its  bodily  force,  it  loses  the  advantages  of  its  dead 
weight,  by  the  absence  of  that  animating  fire  of  intellect, 
which  alone  gives  real  vigour  to  bodily  exertion  :  clumsy 
powers,  mechanical  discipline,  and  compulsory  obedience, 
must  ever  yield  to  the  force  of  an  opposing  body,  where 
both  the  moral  and  the  physical  powers  of  the  people  are 
blended  and  inseparable. 

It  is  only,  therefore,  by  a  union  of  those  qualities,  that 
a  limited  population  becomes  invincible.  The  vigour  of 
the  body  receives  inexhaustible  subsistence  from  the 
energy  of  the  mind,  and  bids  defiance  to  any  power  where 
these  qualities  are  not  united. 

Thus  circumstanced  were  the  Irish  people  at  the 
moment  of  this  resolution :  and  perhaps  in  no  former 
period  of  modern  history  has  any  nation  been  discovered 
in  so  powerful  and  commanding  a  position.  It  was  a 
triumphant  moment. 

A  population  above  five  millions,  whose  moral  and  phy- 
sical powers  were  so  intimately  united,  that  the  whole 
nation  seemed  one  great  and  active  giant,  endowed  with 
all  the  warlike  qualities  of  the  human  race — one  heart — 
one  soul — and  one  object. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  105 

Though  prejudice  and  intolerance  had  limited  the  pos- 
session of  arms  to  a  comparatively  very  small  proportion 
of  the  people,  yet  it  was  difficult  to  determine  whether 
the  armed  or  disarmed  were  most  zealous  for  their 
country's  liberties.  The  armed  and  disciplined  Volun- 
teers by  this  time  exceeded  in  numbers  the  whole  regular 
military  force  of  the  British  empire,  while  those,  who,  in 
case  of  action,  would  pant  to  supply  the  ranks  of  their 
fallen  countrymen,  numerically  surpassed  the  whole 
organized  military  power  of  the  European  continent 
This  great  force  also,  from  the  smallness  of  the  island, 
was  collected  in  a  narrow  space,  its  powers  were  concen- 
irated,  its  resources  were  always  within  its  grasp,  the 
sound  of  the  horn  could  reach  from  one  village  to  the 
other,  every  man  was  ready  to  obey  its  call,  and  the 
whole  population  was  prepared  to  rush  to  every  station 
where  it  would  be  most  likely  to  attain  its  liberty  and 
independence. 

It  was  impossible  for  a  reflecting  mind  not  to  contrast 
the  noble  fire  and  voluntary  spirit  which  at  that  time 
raised,  and  embodied  in  patriotic  bands,  an  entire  people 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  supporting,  with  their  lives  and 
property,  the  purest  principles  of  constitutional  freedom 
— with  these  troops  of  foreign  principalities,  who,  at  the 
same  moment,  were  employed,  not  as  fair  auxiliaries  by 
treaty  on  principles,  but  as  mere  mercenary  automata, 
collected  to  suppress  the  natural  liberties  of  America, 
and  who,  had  they  been  successful  there,  would  have 
attempted  their  next  triumph  over  the  independence  of 
Ireland — vassals,  purchased  from  the  avarice  of  petty 
German  princes,  whc  filled  their  narrow  treasuries  by 
measuring  out  the  blood  of  their  peasantry  to  the  highest 
bidder  and  transporting  their  wretched  subjects  to  put 
down  the  eternal  rights  of  civilized  society — men,  who 
had  no  object  but  their  pay,  no  enthusiasm  but  for  plun- 
der ;  bought  by  mercenary  treaty  from  the  potentates  of 
the  old  world  to  butcher  the  inhabitants  of  the  new,  sold 
like  the  oxen  of  the  field  for  like  profit  and  like  slaughter, 
and,  as  the  combatants  of  the  brute  creation,  fighting 
only  through  a  vicious  instinct,  and  seeking  no  higher 
glory  than  to  gore  their  fellow  animals. 

II.  Notwithstanding   the   avowed   disposition  of  the 


106  RISE    AND    FALL 

British  Legislature  to  concede  full  commercial  liberty  to 
Ireland,  intrigues  were  soon  fomented  by  monopolists,  to 
render  abortive,  or  diminish  as  much  as  possible,  the 
advantages  of  the  concessions:  and,  amongst  other  cir- 
cumstances of  that  nature,  one — of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance, in  every  point  of  view,  constitutional  as  well  as 
commercial — occurred,  which  excited  throughout  Ireland 
well  founded  suspicions  as  to  the  sincerity  of  Great 
Britain. 

By  the  resolutions  of  the  British  Legislature,  Ireland 
had  been  admitted  to  export  her  linen  and  woollen  manu- 
factures to  Portugal,  agreeable  to  the  provisions  of  the 
treaty  of  Methuen,  from  which  liberty  she  had  been  pre- 
viously and  explicitly  prohibited  by  express  statutes. 
The  Irish  merchant  taking  advantage  of  this  concession 
— liberated  from  these  commercial  restrictions,  and  left 
freely  to  wing  his  way  to  all  the  amicable  ports  of 
Europe — immediately  exported  a  considerable  quantity 
of  Irish  manufactures  to  Portugal ;  but  to  the  surprise  of 
the  Irish  people,  the  Portuguese  Ministiy  peremptorily 
refused  to  receive  Irish  manufactures  into  their  ports,  and 
not  only  absolutely  prohibited  their  importation,  but 
seized  on  the  property  of  the  Irish  merchants ! 

This  strong  and  unaccountable  proceeding  being 
adopted  by  a  nation,  not  only  in  profound  peace  with 
Great  Britain,  but  by  a  people  always  dependent  upon 
her  for  protection,  subservient  to  her  views,  and  obedient 
to  her  wishes,  and  by  a  court  where  a  British  Minister 
resided,  and  in  ports  where  British  Consuls  were  resident, 
it  was  palpable,  that  such  a  step  never  durst  have  been 
adopted  by  the  Court  of  Portugal  without  at  least  the 
connivance  of  the  British  Cabinet.  It  was  incredible 
that  a  nation,  almost  dependent  upon  the  will  of  England, 
would  presume  to  insult  a  federative  portion  of  the 
British  King's  dominions,  and  it  became  necessary  to  in- 
vestigate the  grounds  of  so  unwarrantable  a  proceeding. 

No  doubt  could  exist  that  the  active  jealousy  of  the 
British  manufacturers  had  been  roused  by  the  resolutions 
in  favour  of  Ireland,  and  that  the  trade  of  England 
might  be  somewhat  affected  by  these  resolutions.  The 
avarice  of  the  British  monopolists  would  naturally  take 
>**erv  secret  method  of  counteracting  advantages,   the 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  107 

pcssession  of  which,  by  Ireland,  would  certainly  operate 
somewhat  as  a  drawback  upon  their  own  ;  and  the  Bri- 
tish Minister  durst  not  displease  the  British  trade. 

The  Irish  merchants  soon  felt  the  effects  of  their  exclu- 
sion. Their  new  spirit  of  enterprise  was  damped,  the 
earliest  commercial  exertions  of  Ireland  were  paralyzed, 
their  speculations  extinguished,  and  the  whole  transac- 
tion appeared  to  be  of  the  most  suspicious  character. 

The  Irish,  as  a  nation,  now  felt  themselves  not  only 
aggrieved,  but  sorely  insulted.  The  merchants  of  Dub- 
lin, through  their  Recorder,  Sir  Samuel  Broadstreet,  pre- 
sented a  petition  to  parliament,  expressive  of  their  suffer- 
ings. Mr.  Eden,  the  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  who 
generally  affected  to  be  well  disposed  towards  that  coun- 
try, had  recourse  to  the  usual  diplomatic  plausibility — 
arguing  on  the  impolicy  of  precipitation,  and  the  disin- 
terested feelings  of  the  British — he  resisted  any  imme- 
diate resolution  on  the  subject,  but  moved  that  this  trans- 
action, and  the  fair  and  just  petition  of  the  first  commer- 
cial body  in  Ireland  should  lie  on  the  table,  and  wait  for 
the  result  of  negociations,  the  commencement  of  which 
*ras  uncertain,  and  the  termination  of  which  would  cer- 
ainly  be  protracted. 

This  proceeding,  however,  did  not  satisfy  the  Irish 
nation ;  and,  as  is  generally  the  case  of  impolitic,  short- 
sighted evasion,  that  line  of  conduct  which  was  intended 
to  quiet  the  subject,  and  evade  the  investigation,  served 
to  raise  it  into  greater  notice,  and  excited  a  latitude  oi 
discussion  which  the  Irish  Government  had  never  dreamed 
of,  and  which  ultimately  became  highly  serviceable  to  the 
cause  of  liberty. 

Some  negociations  were  certainly  carried  on  by  the 
British  Ministers  with  the  Court  of  Portugal  upon  the 
subject,  but  without  that  sincerity  which  could  effect  their 
purposes.  Portugal  could  have  no  just  cause  to  resist  the 
admission  of  Irish  manufactures  into  her  ports ;  she  had 
no  distinct  treaties  with  Ireland,  and  no  foreign  treaties 
hostile  to  the  interests  of  the  British  empire ;  she  relied 
on  the  good  will  of  England  and  of  Ireland  for  the  recep- 
tion of  her  own  wines,  on  which  so  great  a  proportion  ot 
her  commerce  depended ;  yet  yielding  to  the  secret  ma- 
chinations of  interested  English  merchants,  she  depended 


108  RISE    AND    FALL 

nn  the  feebleness  and  incapacity  of  Ireland  to  resist  he? 
determination,  and  on  the  disposition  of  England  to  favour 
her  monopolists.  Nor  was  she  deceived  in  her  expecta- 
tion. The  deceptive  remonstrances  of  the  British  Minis- 
fry  ended  in  the  perseverance  of  Portugal ;  and,  at  the 
commencement  of  the  ensuing  session,  Mr.  Eden  found 
Ireland  in  a  state  of  general  agitation,  and  it  became 
absolutely  necessary  to  retreat  from  his  mean  system  of 
procrastination — a  line  of  conduct  now  too  palpable,  and 
which  the  Irish  nation  would  no  longer  submit  to — and 
feeling  it  impossible  any  further  to  evade  the  discussion, 
Mr.  Eden,  with  an  address  and  skill,  highly  useful  on 
many  occasions  to  a  Minister,  determined  to  anticipate  a 
subject  which  he  knew  must  come  forward,  and,  as  a 
Minister,  unexpectedly  snatch  from  the  Opposition  the 
merit  of  the  inquiry. 

Mr.  Eden,  on  this  occasion,  with  all  the  symptoms  of 
sincerity,  commenced  his  statement  by  representing  the 
strong  and  unavailing  efforts  of  England  to  bring  the 
Court  of  Portugal  to  a  due  sense  of  its  impropriety ;  and 
concluded  by  declaring,  that  notwithstanding  every  effort, 
the  Minister  of  Portugal  had  given  a  final  and  adverse 
answer  to  the  rightful  claims  of  Ireland. 

This  statement,  however  plausible,  could  not  escape  the 
sagacious  penetration  of  many  members ;  and  it  appeared 
clearly,  that  Mr.  Eden  had  determined,  by  this  means,  to 
rid  himself  of  responsibility,  by  employing  a  person  of 
less  compunction  than  himself. 

The  person  who  was  thus  selected  for  the  purpose  of 
again  sacrificing  the  rights  of  his  country,  was  the  same 
Mr.  J.  Fitzgibbon,  who,  in  the  arrogant  and  able  manner 
so  peculiar  to  himself,  seemed  rather  to  command  than 
move  an  address  to  his  Majesty,  as  if  it  was  of  his  own 
composition,  though  in  fact  it  was  the  production  of  the 
Secretary.  In  this  address,  he  prayed  "  His  Majesty  to 
take  into  his  consideration  the  subject  (already  discussed,^ 
and  to  apply  for  a  redress"  (already  decidedly  negatived) 
— and  the  whole  address  was  couched  in  terms  feeble, 
fulsome,  and  indecisive,  unbecoming  the  dignity  and  the 
importance  of  any  independent  nation. 

This  vapid  and  insidious  measure  was  warmly  opposed 
by  the  real  friends  of  Ireland ;  and  Sir  Lucius  O'Brien, 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  l09 

with  a  spirit  and  language  which  spoke  his  real  attach- 
ment to  the  interests  of  his  country,  and  a  perfect  know- 
ledge of  its  commercial  rights,  moved  an  amendment  to 
Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  address — the  terms  of  which  form  a  very 
remarkable  circumstance  in  Irish  history — and  by  its  pe- 
remptory and  independent  language,  led  directly  to  the 
consideration  of  national  rights  and  constitutional  distinct- 
ness, which,  till  that  period,  had  never  been  so  strongly 
expressed  or  so  decisively  put  in  issue. 

III.  Sir  Lucius  O'Brien  was  descended  from  one  of 
the  most  ancient  and  illustrious  of  the  aboriginal  Irish 
families,  a  large  part  of  whose  fortune  he  still  retained, 
and  by  means  of  a  rational  understanding,  and  very  ex- 
tensive and  accurate  commercial  information,  he  acquired 
a  considerable  degree  of  public  reputation ;  though  his 
ianguage  was  bad,  his  address  miserable,  and  his  figure 
and  action  unmeaning  and  whimsical,  yet,  as  his  matter 
was  good,  his  reasoning  sound,  and  his  conduct  spirited 
and  independent,  he  was  attended  to  with  respect ;  and, 
in  return,  always  conveyed  considerable  information. 

Sir  Lucius  was  always  strong  and  decisive  ;  he  carried 
with  him  at  least  a  portion  of  that  weight  which  justly 
appertained  to  his  information,  his  family,  and  his  cha- 
racter. 

Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  motion  was  most  strongly  reprobated 
by  Sir  Lucius ;  but  aware  that  he  could  not  completely 
defeat  the  measure,  he  moved  an  amendment  of  a  grand 
and  novel  nature  which,  if  adopted,  would  have  placed 
Ireland  on  a  pinnacle.  This  amendment  called  upon  his 
Majesty,  as  King  of  Ireland  to  assert  the  rights  of  that 
kingdom,  by  hostility  with  Portugal,  and  concluding 
with  these  remarkable  expressions — "  we  doubt  not  that 
nation  has  vigour  and  resources  sufficient  to  maintain  all 
her  rights,  and  astonish  all  her  enemies!" — at  once  man- 
fully asserting  the  constitutional  independence,  and  pur- 
lishing  the  military  power,  of  his  country,  and  giving  to 
England  herself  a  wholesome  hint  of  her  spirit  and  deter- 
mination. 

The  boldness  of  this  motion,  its  promptitude,  its  vigour, 
its  consequences,  made  an  instantaneous  and  visible  im- 
pression on  the  whole  House ;  it  was  at  once  a  declara- 
tion of  war,  a  declaration  of  rights,  and  a  declaration  of 

10 


110  RISE    AND    FALL 

superiority ;  it  gave  a  new  character  to  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment, and  a  new  existence  to  the  Irish  people.  But  they 
were  not  yet  sufficiently  prepared  to  receive  the  impres- 
sion with  conclusive  effect,  their  chains  were  not  yet 
loosened,  they  had  not  been  enlarged  from  their  prison, 
and  however  disposed  to  adopt  this  spirited  and  vigorous 
proceeding,  their  keepers  were  yet  too  numerous  and  too 
strong  to  permit  their  liberation. 

The  motion  of  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  was,  however,  opposed 
by  many  of  the  first  characters  in  Ireland ;  and  even 
some  friends  of  Government,  ashamed  of  its  imbecility, 
refused  to  support  it.  Sir  John  Blaquiere,  an  habitual 
supporter  of  the  Minister,  holding  offices  and  pensions, 
and  who  had  been  himself  a  Minister,  spiritedly,  amongst 
others,  gave  it  his  decided  negative.  However,  after  a 
warm  and  animated  debate,  the  Secretary  succeeded,  and 
Mr.  Fitzgibbon  added  a  new  thorn  to  that  goad  with 
which  he  endeavoured  to  drive,  but  which  he  finally 
found  had  only  the  effect  of  irritating,  his  country. 

IV.  Sir  Lucius  O'Brien's  amendment  gave  the  keenest 
spur  to  the  cause  of  national  independence.  The  King 
of  Ireland,  required  by  an  Irish  Parliament,  and  his  Irish 
subjects,  to  take  hostilities  on  behalf  of  Ireland,  against 
a  foreign  nation  with  which  England  had  no  quarrel, 
exhibited  a  new  scene  to  an  enlightened  people,  and  soon 
excited  thoughts  and  inquiries,  which  led  to  the  impor- 
tant discussion  that  soon  followed,  and  at  length  attained 
their  emancipation. 

An  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  federative  compact 
between  England  and  Ireland  was  now  excited  and 
occupied  every  thinking  mind  throughout  the  latter 
country ;  it  was  a  subject  which  the  depressed  state  of 
Ireland  had  heretofore  suspended :  so  desperate  had  been 
its  situation — so  desponding  the  people — so  hopeless  its 
redress — that  the  nature  of  that  connection  had  been 
hardly  considered  worthy  of  discussion  :  and  though  its 
abuses  had  been  frequently  resisted,  its  principles  had 
never  been  defined. 

So  soon,  however,  as  the  people  learned  that  their 
connection  with  England  was  strictly  federative,  that 
the  King  of  Ireland  might,  in  right  of  his  Irish  crown, 
make  war  with  a  foreign  Power,  without  the  King  ot 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  Hi 

England  (as  such)  being  a  principal  in  the  contest,  that 
Ireland  was,  in  fact,  an  independent  nation,  connected 
with  England  only  by  the  identity  of  the  Monarch,  and 
that  the  King  governed  Ireland  only  in  right  of  his  Irish 
crown;  and  not  as  a  part  of  the  realm  of  Great  Britain, 
the  features  of  the  Irish  constitution  soon  became  familiar 
to  the  people,  a  distinctness  perfectly  apparent  and  une- 
quivocally proved,  by  the  language  and  the  conduct  of 
the  British  Ministers  themselves,  who  calmly  permitted 
Portugal  to  insult  and  injure  Ireland,  without  treating  it 
with  insult  to,  or  aggression  against  the  Crown  of  Great 
Britain. 

This  unanswerable  reasoning,  and  these  indisputable 
facts,  now  engrossed  almost  the  exclusive  consideration 
of  all  the  armed  associations.  It  was  manifest  that,  in 
every  point  of  view,  Ireland  had  been  denied  the  rights 
of  a  free  constitution,  though,  in  every  point  of  view,  she 
was  entitled  to  enjoy  it  ;  if  she  was  to  be  considered 
merely  as  a  partner  of  the  British  empire,  she  was  then 
entitled  to  the  full  rights  and  advantages  of  the  whole 
British  constitution,  but  if,  on  the  other  hand,  she  was 
connected  with  England  solely  as  a  federative  state,  she 
was  then  decidedly  entitled  to  enjoy  the  distinct  rights 
and  advantages  of  a  distinct  constitution  ;  but,  in  fact, 
she  enjoyed  neither  the  one  nor  the  other,  and  that  usur- 
pation of  Government,  though  sanctioned  by  the  statutes 
of  the  usurping  Power,  could  never  bind  the  constitutional 
rights  and  prerogatives  of  the  suffering  Nation,  longer 
than  until  it  could  mature  the  power  of  resistance. 

V.  The  reason  and  the  justice  of  these  considerations 
penetrated  the  understanding  of  the  people,  in  every 
quarter  of  the  nation.  The  Volunteers  reflected,  that 
the  remedy  was  with  themselves — their  grievances  were 
heavy — their  means  ample — their  determination  decisive 
— and  their  redress  attainable.  If  the  Parliament  would 
uot  act,  the  people  would — if  the  representatives  were 
corrupt,  the  constituents  were  honest.  Nothing  was 
necessary  but  a  declaration  of  the  rights  of  the  Nation, 
and  of  the  will  of  the  People — and  England,  already 
humbled,  disgraced,  and  dispirited  by  America,  had  lost 
the  means  and  the  spirit  of  opposition — and  would  cod- 


112  RISE    AND    FALL 

cede,  however  reluctantly,  to  the  just  claims  of  a  free  and 
defined  constitution  to  Ireland. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  was  suggested,  by  those  whose 
irresolution,  timidity,  or  corruption,  still  endeavoured  to 
damp  the  spirit  and  curb  the  impetuosity  of  the  nation, 
that,  circumstanced  as  England  was,  it  would  be  unge- 
nerous to  take  Advantage  of  her  feeble  moment — to 
enforce,  by  threat,  those  claims  which  her  late  conduct 
evidently  showed  a  disposition  to  concede  without  force 
or  reluctance ;  that  it  would  be  more  magnanimous  to 
wait  till  Great  Britain  had  recovered  from  her  panic,  and 
from  her  dangers — to  give  her  time  to  breathe — and  re 
ceive  from  her  friendship  and  generosity  those  certain 
and  amicable  concessions,  which  would  be  more  gratify- 
ing and  more  permanent,  than  those  acquired  by  hum- 
bling her  pride,  and  taking  advantage  of  her  weakness. 
But  this  reasoning,  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  open  and 
generous  character  of  the  Irish  people,  was,  in  this  in- 
stance, too  feeble  to  be  attended  to,  and  recourse  was  had 
to  another  line  of  argument. 

It  was  stated  that  Ireland  had  no  navy  to  protect  hei 
commerce — no  wealth  to  support  a  contest — and,  after  a 
destructive  effort,  might  ultimately  fall  into  the  trammel? 
of  England,  with  lost  claims  and  diminished  importance. 
But  this  reasoning  only  added  to  the  spirit  of  the  nation, 
its  pride  was  roused,  its  jealousy  excited,  arguments  ill 
adapted  to  a  people,  who  had  lately  acquired  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  its  own  powers  and  resources,  who  were 
now  unanimously  leagued  against  usurpation,  and  who, 
after  an  inactivity  of  almost  a  century,  had  once  more 
been  roused  to  that  pastime  of  arms,  which  had  ever 
been  the  favourite  ajnd  predominant  passion  of  the  Irish 
people,  from  the  moment  their  island  had  been  peopled. 
They  said,  that  it  was  neither  ungenerous  nor  dishon- 
ourable to  catch  the  favourable  moment  of  rescuing,  from 
an  usurping  power,  those  liberties  which  had  been 
wrested  from  the  weakness  of  their  ancestors,  and  there- 
fore retained  from  them  through  the  feebleness  of  them- 
selves, that  it  is  never  necessary  for  the  plundered  to 
await  the  awakening  of  plunderers  to  take  back  their 
property,  that  the  favourable  moment  might  never  recur, 
and  that  the  laws  of  God,  of  Man,  and  of  Nature,  prescribe 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  113 

no  peculiar  moment  to  assert  the  liberties  of  a  people,  or 
arrest  tb.3  oppression  of  an  usurper. 

Those  grievances  which  Irishmen  so  loudly  complained 
of,  and  those  constitutional  rights  which  they  so  resolutely 
demanded,  were  numerous  and  indispensable  to  the  lib- 
erty not  only  of  the  nation,  but  of  the  individual.  Ire- 
land had  then  no  security  for  either  ;  the  Judges  depen- 
dant on  the  Crown,  the  army  independent  of  the  Parlia- 
ment, her  Legislature  at  the  feet  of  the  British  Attorney 
General,  and  the  people  bound  by  the  laws  of  Scotch  and 
English  delegates,  altogether  formed  the  means  and  basis 
of  a  despotism,  which  the  caprice  or  displeasure  of  Eng- 
land might  at  any  time  put  in  practice,  if  she  were  strong 
enough. 

VI.  The  precarious  state  of  personal  liberty  in  Ireland, 
was  one  of  the  most  glaring  grievances,  the  want  of  a 
Habeas  Corpus  statute  gave  absolute  power  to  any 
Government  which  might  venture  experiments  of  ?, 
despotic  nature,  and  enabled  the  Minister  to  suppress,  in 
the  very  first  instance  the  liberty  of  the  press — the  ablest 
advocate  of  reform — the  most  powerful  auxiliary  of 
freedom.  But  it  was  now  too  late,  the  people  were  united, 
and  their  divisions  suspended  or  forgotten ;  it  would  have 
been  desperate  to  have  resorted  o  the  hand  of  power 
and  in  vain  to  attempt  any  measure  but  conciliation. 
England  was  reduced  to  the  singular  and  humiliating 
situation  of  stooping  to  the  dictates  of  an  inferior  country 
— and  beholding  her  arrogant  and  arbitrary  Ministers 
treating,  with  all  the  courtesy  of  fawning  courtiers,  a 
people  armed  in  defiance  of  their  authority,  and  conced- 
ing to  the  peremptory  demands  of  the  Irish  nation,  those 
rights  which  had  been  refused,  not  only  by  themselves, 
but  by  every  former  Government  of  Great  Britain. 

A  repeal  of  the  English  statute  of  the  6th  of  George 
the  First,  was  the  first  and  most  indispensable  measure 
to  be  effected — and  it  required  no  logical  deductions  to 
prove  to  the  armed  Volunteers,  that  the  attainment  even 
of  all  their  objects  would  probably,  at  a  future  day, 
become  void  and  nugatory,  unless  they  tore  up  by  the 
root  that  standard  of  usurpation.  The  effects  and  ope- 
ration of  this  statute  became  perfectly  understood, 
and  formed  one  of  the  insufferable  of  those  grievances, 

10* 


114  RISE    AND    FALL 

which  the  Volunteers,  at  every  risk,  were  determined  X 
abolish.* 

VII.  An  explicit  and  detailed  declaration  of  the  people's 
rights  was  now  demanded  in  every  part  of  the  nation ; 
the  press  teemed  with  publications  on  the  subjects  best 
calculated  to  call  patriotism  into  activity:  the  doctrines 
of  Swift,  of  Molyneux,  and  of  Lucas,  were  re-published 
ill  abstract  pamphlets,  and  placed  in  the  hands  of  every 
man  who  could  read  them ;  their  principles  were  recog- 
nized and  disseminated ;  the  Irish  mind  became  enlight- 
ened ;  and  a  revolution  in  literature  w^s  made  auxiliary 
to  a  revolution  in  liberty. 

Delegates  from  all  the  armed  bodies  of  the  people  were 
regularly  appointed  by  their  respective  corps,  and  met, 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  additional  weight  and  impor- 
tance to  their  resolves,  by  conjointly  declaring  their 
sentiments  and  their  determination.  These  meetings, 
first  confined  to  districts,  soon  multiplied,  and  extended 

*  Nothing  can  more  clearly  speak  the  determined  spirit  of  the  Volun- 
teers— than  the  following  Resolutions,  entered  into  about  this  time  by 
the  Volunteer  corps  of  the  city  of  Dublin,  published  in  all  the  Newspa- 
pers, and  circulated  throughout  every  part  of  the  kingdom.  The  same 
language  was  generally  adopted  by  the  whole  nation — and  the  Lord 
Lieutenant,  immediately  after  the  publication  of  these  Resolutions,  per- 
mitted the  military  bands  of  the  regular  army  to  attend  a  review  of  the 
very  same  corps  in  the  Phoenix  Park—  to  which  they  marched,  playing 
the  Volunteers  march,  under  the  windows  of  the  Castle,  and  in  the  view 
of  his  Excellency. 

««  At  a  meeting  of  the  Corps  of  Dublin  Volunteers,  on  Friday,  the  1st 
of  March,  1782,  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Leinster  in  the  chair : 

"  Resolved,  that  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland  only  are 
competent  to  make  laws,  binding  the  subjects  of  this  realm ;  and  thai 
we  will  not  obey,  or  give  operation  to  any  laws,  save  only  those  enacted 
by  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland,  whose  rights  and  privi- 
leges, jointly  and  severally,  we  are  determined  to  support  with  our  lives 
and  fortunes." 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Corps  of  Independent  Dublin  Volunteers,  on 
Thursday,  March  5th,  1782: 

"  Resolved,  That  we  do  not  acknowledge  the  jurisdiction  of  any  Par 
iiament,  save  only  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland. 

"  Resolved,  That  we  will,  in  every  capacity,  oppose  the  execution 
of  any  statute,  imposed  upon  us  by  the  pretended  authority  of  a  British 
Parliament." 

More  than  200  resolutions  to  the  same  effect  (many  stronger)  wen 
quickly  published  by  corps  and  regiments  of  Volunteers  throuehoul 
Ireland. 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  115 

themselves  to  the  counties — thence  to  provinces — and  at 
length  to  the  united  nation ;  their  deliberations  became 
regular  and  public,  and  their  resolutions  decisive — and 
at  length  the  celebrated  convention  at  Dungannon  was 
convoked,  which  formed  a  most  remarkable  incident  of 
Irish  history,  and  one  of  the  wisest  and  most  temperate 
measures,  that  ever  signalized  the  good  sense,  good  con- 
duct, and  the  spirit  of  a  people. 

The  northern  counties  of  Ireland,  though  not  more 
spirited,  more  regular  and  more  intelligent  than  the 
other  provinces,  took  the  lead  in  this  celebrated  meeting. 
The  armed  associations  of  Ulster  first  appointed  delegates, 
to  declare  the  sentiments  of  their  province,  in  a  general 
assembly ;  and,  on  the  15th  day  of  February,  1782,  one 
of  the  most  solemn  and  impressive  scenes  which  Ireland 
had  ever  witnessed,  took  place  in  the  inconsiderable  town 
of  Dungannon. 

There  were  comparatively  but  few  Roman  Catholics 
in  the  northern  counties  of  Ireland,  and  still  fewer  of  the 
strictly  Protestant  religion.  The  population  of  Ulster 
were  principally  Dissenters,  a  people  differing  in  character 
from  the  aboriginal  inhabitants,  fond  of  reform,  and  not 
hostile  to  equality,  examining  the  constitution  by  its  theory 
and  seeking  a  recurrence  to  original  principles,  prone  to 
tntolerancy,  without  being  absolutely  intolerants,  and 
disposed  to  republicanism,  without  being  absolutely 
republicans;  of  Scottish  origen,  they  partook  of  many  of 
the  peculiarities  of  that  hardy  people :  penetrating,  harsh 
minded,  persevering,  selfish,  frugal,  by  their  industry  they 
acquired  individual,  and  by  individual  political  indepen- 
dence, as  brave,  though  less  impetuous  than  the  western 
and  southern  Irish,  they  are  more  invariably  formidable ; 
less  slaves  to  their  passions  than  to  their  interest,  their 
habits  are  generally  temperate,  their  address  quaint,  blunt, 
and  ungracious,  their  dialect  harsh  and  disagreeable — 
their  persons  hardy  and  vigorous.  With  these  qualities, 
the  Northern  Irish  convoked  delegates  from  twenty-five 
thousand  soldiers,  to  proclaim  the  sentiments  of  the  Irish 
people. 

This  celebrated  meeting  was  conducted  with  a  decorum, 
firmness,  and  discretion  unknown  to  the  popular  meetings 
of  other  times  and   of  other  countries.     Stead)*,  silent, 


fi6  RISE    AND    FALL 

and  determined,  two  hundred  delegated  Volunteers, 
clothed  in  the  uniform  ai:d  armed  with  the  arms  of  theif 
respective  regiments,  marched,  two  and  two,  to  the 
Church  of  Dungannon,  a  place  selected  for  the  sanctity 
of  its  nature,  to  give  the  greater  solemnity  to  this  memo- 
rable proceeding. 

The  entrance  of  the  Delegates  into  that  sacred  place, 
was  succeeded  by  an  awful  silence,  which  pervaded  the 
whole  assembly;  the  glittering  arms  of  two  hundred 
patriots,  for  the  first  time  selected  by  their  countrymen, 
to  proclaim  the  wrongs  and  grievances  of  the  people,  was 
in  itself  a  scene  so  uncommon  and  so  interesting,  that 
many  of  those  men,  who  were  ready  in  a  moment  to  shed 
the  last  drop  of  their  blood  in  the  cause  of  their  country, 
as  soldiers  were  softened  into  tears,  while  contemplatively 
ihey  surveyed  that  assembly,  in  which  they  were  about  to 
pledge  themselves  to  measures  irrevocably  committing 
Ireland  with  her  sister  nation — the  result  of  which  must 
determine  the  future  fate  of  themselves,  their  children; 
and  their  country. 

VIII.  This  memorable  assemblage  of  patriotism  and 
discretion,  whose  proceedings  soon  became  a  theme  oi 
eulogium  throughout  every  nation  of  Europe,  was  com- 
posed of  men  not  of  an  ordinary  description,  they  wera 
generally  persons  of  much  consideration — selected  for 
character  and  abilities,  many  of  them  persons  of  high 
rank  and  large  fortune,  some  of  them  members  of  Par- 
liament, and  all  of  them  actuated  by  one  heart,  filled  with 
one  spirit,  and  determined  upon  one  procedure. 

Amongst  those  who,  at  this  meeting,  first  distinguished 
themselves,  was  Mr.  Francis  Dobbs,  who  afterwards 
became  a  person  of  singular  reputation,  the  mere  incidents 
of  whose  life  have  nothing  to  engage  diffusely  the  pen  of 
an  historian;  no  great  transitions  of  rank,  no  deep 
depressions,  no  unexpected  elevation,  no  blaze  of  genius, 
no  acts  of  heroism  distinguished  his  moderate  and  peace- 
able progress  through  the  world,  but  the  extraordinary 
bent  of  his  understanding,  and  the  whimsical,  though 
splendid  extravagances  of  his  eccentric  mind,  introduced 
him  into  a  notice,  which  the  common  exercises  of  his  talent 
would  never  have  effected. 

Francis  Dobbs  was  a  gentleman  of  respectable  family 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  11 

but  of  moderate  fortune,  he  had  been  educated  for  the 
bar,  where  he  afterwards  acquired  some  reputation  as  a 
constitutional  lawyer,  and  much  as  a  zealous  advocate, 
but  his  intellect  was  of  an  extraordinary  description ;  he 
seemed  to  possess  two  distinct  minds,  the  one  adapted  to 
the  duties  of  his  profession,  and  the  usual  offices  of  society, 
the  other,  diverging  from  its  natural  centre,  led  him 
through  wilds  and  ways,  rarely  frequented  by  the  human 
understanding,  entangled  him  in  a  maze  of  contemplative 
deduction  from  revelation  to  futurity,  and  frequently 
decoyed  his  judgment  beyond  the  frontiers  of  reason.  His 
singularities,  however,  seemed  so  separate  from  his  sober 
judgment,  that  each  followed  its  appropriate  occupation 
without  interruption  from  the  other,  and  left  the  theologist 
and  the  prophet  sufficiently  distinct  from  the  lawyer  and 
the  gentleman. 

There  were  but  few  virtues  he  did  not,  in  some  degree, 
partake  of,  nor  were  there  any  vices  discernible  in  his 
disposition ;  though  obstinate  and  headstrong,  he  was 
gentle  and  philanthropic,  and,  with  an  ardent  temper,  he 
was  inoffensive  as  an  infant. 

By  nature  a  patriot  and  an  enthusiast,  by  science  a 
lawyer  and  an  historian,  on  common  topics  he  was  not 
singular,  and  on  subjects  of  literature  was  informed  and 
instructive ;  but  there  is  sometimes  a  key  in  the  human 
mind  which  cannot  be  touched  without  sounding  those 
wild  chords  which  never  fail  to  interrupt  the  harmony  of 
reason,  and  when  expatiating  on  the  subjects  of  antichrist 
and  the  millennium,  his  whole  nature  seemed  to  undergo 
a  change,  his  countenance  brightened  up  as  if  by  the 
complacent  dignity  of  a  prophetic  spirit,  his  language 
became  earnest,  sometimes  sublime,  always  extraordinary 
and  not  unfrequently  extravagant. 

These  doctrines,  however,  he  made  auxiliaries  to  his 
view  of  politics,  and  persuaded  himself  of  its  application 
to  Ireland  and  the  infallibility  of  his  reasoning.  Mankind 
has  an  eternal  propensity  to  be  seduced  by  the  lure  of 
new  sects,  and  entangled  in  the  trammels  of  inexplicable 
mysteries :  and  problems  of  theology,  in  their  nature 
incapable  of  demonstration,  are  received  with  avidity  by 
the  greediness  of  superstition. 

Yet  on  these  mysterious  subjects  Mj    Dotbs  seemed 


il8  RISE    AND    PALL 

to  feel  no  difficulties,  he  devoted  a  great  propoition  of 
his  time  to  the  development  of  revelation,  and  attempted 
to  throw  strange  and  novel  lights,  on  divine  prophecy. 
This  was  the  string  on  which  his  reason  seemed  often  to 
vibrate,  and  his  positions  all  tended  to  one  extraordinary 
conclusion. 

"  That  Ireland  was  decreed  by  heaven  to  remain  for 
ever  an  independent  state,  and  was  destined  to  the  super- 
natural honour  of  receiving  the  antichrist ; "  and  this  he 
laboured  to  prove  from  passages  of  Revelation. 

At  the  Dungannon  meeting  Mr.  Dobbs  first  appeared 
as  a  delegate  from  a  northern  Volunteer  corps,  he  was 
afterwards  appointed  a  member  of  the  national  convention 
of  Ireland  for  the  province  of  Ulster,  and  will  be  found 
throughout  the  whole  course  of  Irish  events  during  his  life, 
a  distinguished  and  ardent  advocate  for  the  constitutional 
rights  of  his  country. 

The  deliberations  of  the  Dungannon  meeting  were 
continued  for  several  days  without  interruption  or  inter- 
mission ;  its  discussions  were  calm  and  dignified,  its  reso- 
lutions firm,  moderate,  and  patriotic.  Every  member  of 
that  assembly,  on  taking  his  seat  in  the  awful  hall,  felt, 
the  great  importance  and  novelty  of  his  delegation,  as 
the  elected  representative  of  united  civil  and  military 
bodies,  blending  the  distinct  functions  of  the  armed  soldier 
and  of  the  deliberative  citizen,  to  protect  his  country 
against  the  still  more  unconstitutional  coalescence  of  a 
mercenary  army,  and  an  external  legislature. 

Colonel  Irwin,  a  northern  gentleman  of  the  highest 
respectability,  of  a  discreet,  moderate,  and  judicious, 
though  active,  steady,  and  spirited  character,  was  called 
to  the  chair  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  the  assembly,  and 
conducted  himself  in  that  most  important  presidency, 
throughout  the  whole  cf  the  business,  with  a  moderation 
and  decorum,  which  aid  the  cause,  and  never  fail  to  give 
weight  to  the  claims  of  a  people. 

At  length,  on  the  15th  of  February  1782,  this  assembly 
finally  framed  and  agreed  upon  that  celebrated  decla- 
ration of  rights  and  of  grievances,  under  which  the  Irish 
nation  had  so  long  been  languishing,  and  announced  to 
the  world  the  substantial  causes  by  which  its  commerce 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  119 

had  been  so  long  restrained,  and  every  trace  of  a  frea 
constitution  almost  obliterated. 

To  give  the  complexion  of  constitutional  legality  to 
the  unprecedented  organization  of  this  meeting,  it  was 
thought  judicious  to  refer  pointedly  to  the  first  principle 
of  popular  freedom  universally  admitted,  established,  and 
acted  upon  in  England  by  the  Revolution,  namely,  "tho 
people's  right  of  preparatory  resistance  to  unconstitutional 
oppression."  The  assembly  therefore  plainly  recognised 
that  principle  by  its  first  resolution :  "  That  citizens,  by 
learning  the  use  of  arms,  abandon  none  of  their  civil 
rights,"  thereby  asserting  the  otherwise  questionable 
legality  of  a  self-created  military  body,  exercising  also  the 
deliberative  functions  of  a  civil  delegation,  and  boldly 
bottoming  the  assertion  of  that  right  upon  the  very  same 
principle  which  the  Prince  of  Orange  had  used  to  usurp 
the  throne  of  England,  "  the  popular  expulsion  of  a 
tyrannical  monarch." 

This  resolution  was  also  wisely  adapted  to  check  all 
legal  proceedings,  or  even  ministerial  cavil,  as  to  the  con- 
stitutionality of  their  meeting,  by  putting  in  direct  issue 
with  the  British  Government  a  previous  question  of  right, 
which,  if  contested,  must  have  drawn  into  public  discussion 
and  controversy  the  principles  of  the  Revolution,  and  the 
very  tenure  of  the  crown  of  England :  for  the  English 
nation  had  by  that  revolution  exploded  the  doctrine  of 
passive  obedience,  and  acting  on  that  ground,  had  armed 
against  their  own  sovereign,  and  put  the  sword  of  popular 
resistance  into  the  hand  of  William,  to  cut  away  the 
allegiance  of  the  Irish  people  even  to  his  own  father. 

The  Dungannon  meeting  next  proceeded  to  denounce, 
by  subsequent  resolutions,  as  altogether  unconstitutional, 
illegal,  and  grievances,  all  British  legislation  over  Ireland 
the  law  of  Poyning,  the  restraint  of  Irish  commerce,  a 
permanent  standing  army  in  Ireland,  the  dependence  of 
the  superior  judges  on  the  crown,  and  consequently  on 
the  minister ;  and  the  assembly  finally  resolved  to  seek  a 
redress  of  all  those  grievances,  and  invited  the  arm- 
ed bodies  of  the  Dther  provinces  of  Ireland  to  unite 
with  them  in  the  glorious  cause  of  constitutional  regene- 
ration. 

The  most  weighty  grievances  and  claims  of  Ireland 


120  RISE    AND    FALL 

weie  by  these  means,  in  the  mildest  and  simplest  language 
without  argument  or  unnecessary  observation,  consoli- 
dated into  one  plain  and  intelligible  body  of  resolutions, 
entered  into  by  delegates  from  twenty-live  thousand  Ulster 
soldiers,  and  backed  by  the  voice  of  above  a  million  ol 
inhabitants  of  that  province,  combining  together  the  moral 
and  physical  strength  of  one  of  the  strongest  quarters  of 
Ireland,  all  actuated  by  a  fixed  and  avowed  determina- 
tion to  attain  redress  at  every  risk  of  life  and  fortune,  and 
headed  by  the  highest  and  most  opulent  gentlemen  of  that 
province/feeling  the  claims  to  be  equally  just  and  irresist- 
ible, and  therefore  not  speculating  on  success  without 
substantial  grounds,  or  denouncing  grievances  without 
solid  and  just  foundation. 

"  Whereas  it  has  been  asserted  that  Volunteers,  as 
such,  cannot  with  propriety  debate  or  give  their  opinions 
on  political  subjects,  or  the  conduct  of  parliaments  or  pub- 
lic men : 

"  Resolved  unanimously.  That  a  citizen,  by  learning 
the  use  of  arms,  does  not  abandon  any  of  his  civil  rights. 

"  That  a  claim  of  any  body  of  men,  other  than  the 

KING,  LORDS,  AND  COMMONS  OF  IRELAND,  tO  make   laWS 

to  bind  this  kingdom,  is  unconstitutional,  illegal,  and  a 
grievance. 

"  That  the  power  exercised  by  the  privy  council  of 
both  kingdoms,  under  pretence  of  the  law  of  Poyning,  is 
unconstitutional  and  a  grievance. 

"  That  the  ports  <  f  this  country  are  by  right  open  tc 
all  foreign  countries,  not  at  war  with  the  King,  and  that 
any  burthens  thereupon,  or  obstructions  thereto,  save  only 
by  the  parliament  of  Ireland,  are  unconstitutional,  ille- 
gal, and  grievances. 

"  That  a  mutiny  bill,  not  limited  in  point  of  duration 
from  session  to  session,  is  unconstitutional  and  a  griev- 
ance. 

"  That  the  independence  of  judges  is  equally  essential 
to  the  impartial  administration  of  justice  in  Ireland,  as  in 
England  ;  and  that  the  refusal  or  delay  of  this  right  to 
Ireland,  makes  a  distinction  where  there  should  be  no 
distinction ;  may  excite  jealousy  where  perfect  union 
shot  Id  prevail ;  and  is  in  itself  unconstitutional  and  a 
grievance. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  121 

"  That  it  is  our  decided  and  unalterable  determination 
to  seek  a  redress  of  these  grievances  ;  and  we  pledge 
ourselves  to  each  other,  and  to  our  country,  as  freeholders, 
fellow-citizens,  and  men  of  honour,  that  we  will,  at  every 
ensuing  election,  support  those  only  who  have  supported 
us  therein,  and  that  we  will  use  every  constitutional  means 
to  make  such  our  pursuit  of  redress,  speedy  and  effectual. 

"  That  as  men,  and  as  Irishmen,  as  Christians,  and  as 
Protestants,  we  rejoice  in  the  relaxation  of  the  penal  laws 
against  our  Roman  Catholic  fellow-subjects  ;  and  that  we 
conceive  the  measure  to  he  fraught  with  the  happiest 
consequences  to  the  union  and  prosperity  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Ireland. 

"  That  four  members  from  each  county  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Ulster  (eleven  to  be  a  quorum)  be,  and  hereby 
are  appointed,  a  committee  till  next  general  meeting,  to 
act  for  the  "Volunteer  corps  here  represented,  and,  as 
occasion  shall  require,  to  call  general  meetings  of  the 
province. 

"  That  the  said  committee  do  appoint  nine  of  their 
members  to  be  a  committee  in  Dublin,  in  order  to  com- 
municate with  such  other  Volunteer  associations  in  the 
other  provinces,  as  may  think  proper  to  come  to  similar 
resolutions ;  and  to  deliberate  with  them  on  the  most 
constitutional  means  of  carrying  them  into  effect." 

The  truth  and  simplicity  of  these  resolutions,  whilst 
they  defied  every  imputation  of  party  faction  or  of  revo- 
lutionary disloyalty,  yet  convinced  the  minister  that  the 
Irish  people  would  be  no  longer  trifled  with.  By  the 
firmness  that  was  observed  respecting  them,  the  waver- 
ing were  steadied,  the  too  moderate,  roused,  and  the  too 
ardent,  moderated,  while  the  adverse  were  deterred  by  an 
anticipation  of  their  success.  Adapted  to  almost  every 
class,  and  to  the  disposition  of  almost  every  character, 
their  effect  through  all  Ireland  was  electric,  and  the 
consequence  fully  answered  the  most  sanguine  hopes,  nay 
wishes,  of  their  framers. 

Having  passed  these  resolutions,  the  assembly  ad- 
journed, committing  the  further  procedure  to  the  coinci- 
dence and  zeal  of  the  other  provinces  of  the  nation  ;  itnd, 
with  a  discretion  almost  unparalleled,  a  body  of  patriots, 
who  might  in  one  week  have  collected  a  military  force. 

il 


182  RISE     AND    FALL 

which  all  the  power  of  England  could  not  then  har* 
coped  with,  and,  at  the  head  of  an  irresistible  army  in  a 
triumphant  attitude,  might  have  dictated  their  own  terms 
to  a  trembling  government,  by  their  wise  and  temperate 
conduct  avoided  the  horrors  of  a  civil  commotion,  proved 
to  the  world  the  genuine  attachment  of  Ireland  to  her 
sister  country,  and  deliberately  represented  to  Great  Bri- 
tain the  grievances,  which,  by  more  hostile  proceedings, 
they  could  by  their  own  power  have  redressed  in  a  ma 
mem 


IMP   THE    IRISH    NATION.  1231 


CHAPTER   VII. 

The  Earl  of  Bristol,  Bishop  of  Derry,  declares  for  Irish  Independence- 
Sketch  of  his  character — Resistance  to  English  Laws  unanimously 
decided  on — Declaration  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  disclaiming  all  Bri- 
tish authority — The  Irish  Judges  dependent  on  the  English  Govern, 
ment — Numerical  force  of  the  Irish  Volunteers — Dissenting  Clergy- 
men— Their  Leaders — State  of  the  Irish  Parliament — Members  divi- 
ded into  Classes — The  leading  members — Mr.  Thomas  Connolly — Mr. 
Ye)  rerton — His  character 

This  transaction,  which,  with  reference  to  all  its  circum- 
stances, may  be  ranked  as  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
incidents  that  have  marked  the  page  of  modern  history, 
brought  into  notice  a  most  singular  personage — Frederick, 
Earl  of  Bristol, — an  Englishman  by  birth,  a  British  peer 
and  bishop  of  Derry,  who  altogether  adopted  the  views, 
and  avowed  himself  a  partisan  for  the  rights  of  Ireland. 
Like  many  others  of  his  profession,  not  content  with 
ecclesiastical  authority,  he  became  ambitious  of  political 
power,  and  sought  by  patriotic  professions  and  decisive 
conduct  to  place  himself  at  the  head  of  the  Irish  nation. 
Possessed  of  an  immense  revenue — by  rank  a  temporal 
peer — by  consecration  a  spiritual  one — with  powerful 
patronage,  and  extensive  connections — he  united  most  of 
the  qualities  best  calculated  to  promote  his  objects, — and 
in  particular,  had  acquired  a  vast  popularity  amongst  the 
Irish,  by  the  phenomenon  of  an  English  nobleman  iden- 
tifying himself  with  the  Irish  nation,  and  appearing  infe- 
rior to  none  in  a  zealous  assertion  of  their  rights  against 
his  own  countrymen.  It  was  a  circumstance  too  novel 
and  too  important  to  escape  their  marked  observation, 
and  a  conduct  too  generous  and  magnanimous  not  tc 
excite  the  love,  and  call  forth  the  admiration,  of  a  grate 
ful  people. 

The  bishop,  at  one  time,  assumed  nearly  a  royal  state. 
Dressed  in  purple,  he  appeared  in  the  streets  of  Dublin 
in  a  coach  drawn  by  six  horses,  and  attended  by  a  troop 


124  RISE    AND    FALL 

of  light  dragoons  as  a  Life-guard,  which  had  been  raised 
and  was  commanded  by  his  nephew — the  unfortunate 
and  guilty  George  Robert  Fitzgerald. 

He  was  a  man  of  elegant  erudition,  extensive  learning, 
and  an  enlightened  and  classical,  but  eccentric  mind. 
Bold,  ardent,  and  versatile,  he  dazzled  the  vulgar  by  os- 
tentatious state,  and  worked  upon  the  gentry  by  ease  and 
condescension  ;  he  affected  public  candour,  and  practised 
private  cabal ;  without  the  profound  dissimulation  of 
Becket,  or  the  powerful  abilities  of  Wolsey,  he  was  little 
inferior  to  either  of  them  in  their  minor  qualities  ;  and 
altogether  formed  an  accomplished,  active  and  splendid 
nobleman,  a  plausible  and  powerful  prelate,  and  a  seem- 
ingly disinterested  and  zealous  patriot.  He  was  admira- 
bly calculated  to  lead  on  an  inflamed  and  injured  people ; 
and  had  there  been  no  counteracting  discretion  in  the 
country — at  a  crisis,  too,  when  almost  any  measure  could 
have  been  carried  by  boldness,  popularity,  and  perseve- 
rance— it  is  more  than  probable  his  views  might  have 
extended  to  the  total  separation  of  the  two  nations. 

II.  But  though  the  voice  of  the  people  had  decided 
unanimously  upon  two  points,  namely,  national  indepen- 
dence and  a  redress  of  grievances ;  yet  many  different 
shades  of  opinion  existed  among  some  of  the  leading 
characters,  as  to  the  precise  time  and  modes  of  proceed- 
ing to  attain  those  objects.  The  moderate  and  cautious 
party  in  general  followed  the  indecisive  and  feeble  coun- 
sels of  Earl  Charlemont ;  whilst  the  more  bold,  decisive, 
and  straight-forward  conduct  of  the  Bishop  of  Derry  ap- 
peared far  more  congenial  to  the  critical  and  proud  posi- 
tion of  the  Irish  nation,  and  better  adapted  to  hasten  the 
attainment  of  their  rights,  than  the  slow  and  almost 
courtly  approaches  of  the  Charlemont  system. 

The  Duke  of  Leinster  also,  as  well  as  Mr.  Brownlow, 
and  many  of  those  who  had  occasionally  been  in  the 
habit  of  supporting  the  Irish  government,  leaned  to  the 
moderate  and  regular  course  of  proceeding  recommended 
by  Earl  Charlemont,  whilst  fewer  of  the  leaders,  but 
more  of  the  people,  followed  the  fascinating  boldness  of 
the  military  prelate,  who  wished  to  take  instant  advan- 
tage of  a  crisis,  the  continuance  of  which  might  be  un- 
certain :  and  the  conduct  of  those  two  noblemen  becom- 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  125 

ing  decidedly  dissimilar,  if  not  altogether  adverse,  it  wa> 
soon  apparent,  that  one  or  the  other  of  them  must  neces- 
sarily sink  iri  public  estimation. 

This  content  for  pre-eminence,  however,  was  carried 
on  only  at  a  distance,  and  in  no  respect  impeded  the 
general  cause.  The  partisans  of  each  never  came  into 
decisive  collision  until  a  contest  for  the  presidency  of  the 
general  national  convention  decided  that  important  point 
in  favor  of  Earl  Charlemont,  and  the  rough  dissolution 
of  that  assembly  through  the  imbecility  of  his  Lordship, 
soon  after  put  a  final  conclusion  to  the  power  and  con- 
troversies of  both  those  personages. 

However,  on  one  point  no  difference  of  opinion  existed 
between  them — all  the  leading  characters  were  unani- 
mous as  to  giving  immediate  and  full  effect  to  the  Dun- 
gannon  resolutions  by  calling  upon  every  military  asso- 
ciation in  the  kingdom  forthwith  to  declare  their  public 
sentiments  on  all  the  important  subjects  discussed  by  that 
assembly.  An  immense  number  of  publications  imme- 
diately issued  from  the  press,  auxiliary  to  this  determi- 
nation— an  increased  activity  as  well  as  spirit  pervaded 
the  whole  kingdom — meetings  were  called  in  every 
county,  city,  town,  and  village — the  municipal  as  well  as 
military  bodies  held  public  meetings — the  determination 
of  all  coincided  with  those  of  Dungannon — no  important 
difference  of  opinion  existed — all  appeared  unanimous  in 
the  common  cause — and  Poyning's  Law,  the  true  parent 
of  all  Irish  grievances,  became  the  pass- word  of  liberty. 
A  particular  word  has  frequently  had  an  extraordinary 
effect  in  exciting  the  enthusiasm  and  rousing  the  passions 
of  the  Irish  people  "  Poyning's  Law,"  therefore,  acquired 
by  repetition  almost  the  power  of  a  talisman — it  operated 
on  all  occasions  as  a  reviving  stimulant  against  the  usur- 
pation of  England — and  became  the  most  obnoxious  and 
reprobated  of  all  their  grievances. 

III.  The  statute  of  George  1.,  declaratory  of  the  legis- 
lative supremacy  of  the  British  Parliament  over  Ireland, 
though  a  more  modern  was  a  still  more  decisive  griev- 
ance ;  as  without  its  abolition  the  redress  of  all  other 
grievances  would  be  vain  and  precarious. 

The  statutes  had  originally  been  enacted  upon  princi 
pies  the  most  unjust,  and  for  objects  the  most  tyrannical 

11* 


126  RISE    AND    FALL 

the  first  to  reduce  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  to  a  mere 
instrument  of  the  privy  council  of  both  nations,  and  con- 
sequently of  the  British  Cabinet — the  second,  to  neutral- 
ize the  Irish  legislature  altogether,  and  to  establish  an  ap- 
pellant jurisdiction  to  the  British  lords,  whereby  every 
decree  and  judgment  of  the  Irish  superior  courts,  which 
could  tend  to  affect  or  disturb  the  questionable  or  bad 
titles  of  the  British  adventurers  and  absentees  to  Irish 
states  or  Irish  property,  might  be  reversed  or  rendered 
abortive  in  Great  Britain  by  a  vote  of  the  Scotch  and 
English  nobility.*  Many  British  peers  and  commoners, 
through  whose  influence  the  latter  statute  had  been 
enacted,  had  themselves  been  deeply  interested  in  effect- 
ing that  measure,  to  secure  their  own  grants  of  Irish 
estates ;  and  some  British  judges  were  led  to  disgrace 
their  judicial  character  by  giving  decisive  opinions  on 
•he  justice  of  a  statute  unequivocally  illegal  and  uncon- 
stitutional. It  was  therefore  unanimously  agreed  upon 
by  all  the  armed  associations  of  Ireland,  to  publish,  on 
their  own  behalf,  and  that  of  the  nation  in  general,  a 
counter-declaration  to  that  of  the  British  judges,  renoun- 
cing all  future  obedience  to  that  statute — by  one  bold 
and  decisive  step  to  throw  off  the  weight  of  that  usurped 
authority  altogether — and,  by  actual  unanimous  resist- 
ance to  its  operation,  for  ever  extinguish  the  most  extra- 
vagant and  illegal  assumption  of  power,  which  one  free 
country  and  limited  monarchy  ever  yet  attempted  to  im- 
pose upon  a  people,  supposed  to  wear  even  the  tattered 
garb  of  freedom. 

The  Volunteers  reasoned — and  reasoned  unanswer- 
ably— that  an  attempt  to  legislate  for  a  nation  not  repre- 
sented in  the  acting  legislature,  was  the  very  acme  of 
despotic  power — the  practical  ground  of  tyrannic  polity ; 
and,  whether  exercised  by  a  king,  a  parliament,  or  a 
privy  council,  was  unnatural  to  the  governed — it  was 
still  a  subjection  to  foreign  jurisdiction,  which  nothing 
but  the  rights  of  conquest  and  the  superiority  of  power 
could  justify  or  perpetuate. 

It  was  upon  the  same  principle,  though  differently  mo* 
iified,  that  Pagan  princes  had  established  Christian  sla- 

*  This  re-enacted  by  the  urion. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  127 

yery — it  was  upon  the  same  principle,  that  so  large  a 
portion  of  the  eastern  world  was  subjugated  to  the  domi- 
nation of  a  few  British  merchants— and  it  was  the  suc- 
cess of  that  vicious  precedent,  the  6th  of  George  III., 
which  had  encouraged  the  British  Parliament  fatally  to 
attempt  to  legislate  for  America :  but  it  was  a  species  of 
usurpation  which  the  renovating  principles  of  the  British 
constitution  itself  never  could  extend  to  a  sister  nation, 
and  which  the  immutable  laws  of  nature  gave  her  the 
right  of  resisting,  the  very  first  opportunity  which  occur- 
red to  render  that  resistance  effectual. 

IV.  It  was  now  perfectly  understood  by  the  Irish  peo- 
ple, that  the  British  statute  in  question,  having  passed 
only  in  England,  could  have  received  the  royal  assent  by 
George  I.,  only  as  King  of  Great  Britain — in  which  dis- 
tinct capacity  the  Irish  nation  altogether  denied  his  power 
or  authority  over  Ireland — because  the  federative  princi- 
ple, though  it  placed  the  two  distinct  crowns  of  the  two 
distinct  nations  for  ever  in  one  dynasty,  yet  acted  in  the 
name  of  two  distinct  legislations,  and  if  it  authorized  the 
legislature  of  either  nation  to  counter-legislate  for  the 
other — it  must  have  reciprocally  authorized  both — and 
would  equally  have  enabled  the  Irish  Parliament,  and 
George  I.,  as  King  of  Ireland,  to  pass  a  similar  statute, 
declaratory  of  their  legislative  supremacy  over  the  king- 
dom of  Great  Britain. 

The  truth  of  this  position  admitted  of  no  argument: 
but  even  if  it  did,  the  physical  strength  of  Ireland  was 
now  too  much  alive  to  its  own  power  to  admit  of  any  pro- 
longed discussion  upon  so  clear  a  subject :  all  diplomatic 
evasions  were  now  useless — the  Irish  people  were  right, 
and  they  were  peremptory — the  British  Government  was 
wrong,  and  it  was  intimidated — the  English  fleets  and 
armies,  crowded  with  Irishmen,  could  not  be  supposed  to 
remain  indifferent  spectators  to  such  a  contest  with  their 
own  country — the  claim  of  rights  was  upon  a  principle 
so  plain  and  so  comprehensive,  that  soldiers  and  sailors 
could  not  be  supposed  to  be  ignorant  of  what  the  sim- 
plest peasant  was  capable  of  understanding. 

The  Irish  judges  (though  some  of  them,  as  before  re- 
marked, were  very  respectable  men)  were  at  this  time  but 
little  to  be  trusted  on  subjects  respecting  which  England 


128  RISE    AND    FAIX 

appeared  to  be  deeply  involved,  or  the  Minister  much  in 
terested — the  precarious  tenure  of  their  offices  almost 
obliged  them  to  be  partisans  for  British  supremacy — and, 
being  totally  dependent  on  the  Government  for  their 
bread,  were  prepared  to  discountenance,  and,  if  possible, 
by  judicial  dictums  to  put  down  the  military  associations. 
It  was  therefore  obviously  necessary,  that  the  public  de- 
claration of  positive  resistance  to  all  British  statutes  and 
legislation  should  be  universal,  proceeding  from  all  ranks, 
and  ah  bodies,  civil  and  military — magistrates  and  peo- 
ple— that  by  its  generality  every  attempt  to  check  it  by 
judicial  interference,  or  individual  prosecution,  might  be 
rendered  impracticable  and  desperate. 

V.  The  armed  associations,  therefore,  assembled  in 
every  quarter  of  the  kingdom,  and,  by  corps  and  regi- 
ments, distinctly  adopted  the  resolutions  of  the  Dungan 
non  meeting,  and  explicitly  declared,  "  that  no  earthly 
authority,  save  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ire- 
land, had  power  to  make  laws  for  their  country — and  that 
they  would  resist,  with  their  lives  and  fortunes,  the  exe- 
cution of  all  British  statutes,  affecting  to  bind  the  inde- 
pendent kingdom  of  Ireland. 

These  resolutions*  were  unanimously  adopted  by  the 

*  The  author's  father  and  brothers  commanded  four  Volunteer  regi- 
ments, viz., — the  Cullenagh  Rangers,  Durrow  Light  Dragoons,  Kilkenny 
Horse,  and  Ballyroom  Cavalry.  The  first  essay  of  the  author's  political 
pen  was  the  following  resolutions,  adopted  by  the  first  of  these  corps: 
and  proves  that  an  attachment  to  the  constitutional  independence  of  Ire- 
land had  been  the  earliest,  as  it  was  the  last,  of  his  political  predilections. 

"  At  the  meeting  of  the  Cullenagh  Rangers,  22d  of  May,  1802,  Colo- 
nel Barrington  in  the  chair,  the  following  Resolutions  were  unan- 
imously agreed  to : — 

"  Resolved — That  as  citizens  armed  in  defence  of  the  laws  and  con- 
stitution of  our  country,  and  disclaiming  every  political  jurisdiction,  save 
the  king,  lords,  and  commons  of  Ireland,  we  are  determined  to  resist, 
with  our  lives  and  fortunes,  every  statute  which  the  usurped  authority 
of  the  British  parliament  have  heretofore  enacted,  or  may  hereafter  at- 
tempt to  impose  on  a  country  determined  to  be  free. 

"  Resolved — That  we  heartily  coincide  in  all  the  resolutions  of  th« 
Dunganiion  meeting,  as  the  surest  step  towards  redressing  those  grievan* 
ces,  which  it  was  as  impolitic  in  England  to  adopt,  as  it  would  be  pusil 
lanimous  in  Ireland  to  submit  to. 

"  Signed,  by  order  of  the  Corps, 

"GEORGE  REILY,  Secretary. " 

Resolutions  to  the  same  effect  were  entered  into  1  y  almost  every  regi 
■lent  of  Ireland. 


OF   THE    HUSH    NATION.  12£ 

Volunteei  corps  in  every*  province  of  Ireland,  some  in 
more  cool,  others  in  warmer  language,  but  all  to  same 
effect — all  in  terms  equally  decisive,  explicit,  and  pa- 
triotic. 

The  necessity  of  adopting  the  Dungannon  resolutions 
distinctly  as  to  all  their  points,  was  manifest ;  for  they 
were  so  congenial  in  their  nature,  and  so  closely  allied, 
as  to  be  inseparable.  That  respecting  the  independence 
of  Irish  judges  seemed  quite  indispensable  to  the  security 
of  individuals,  perhaps  lo  the  success  of  any  of  their 
other  measures.  Unless  judges  were  totally  independent 
of  the  King  and  his  government,  their  purity  never  could 
be  confidently  relied  on,  in  any  case  where  the  crown 
and  the  subject  might  be  at  issue  on  questions  of  English 
legislature. 

To  preserve,  in  legal  decisions,  as  much  as  possible 
the  appearance  of  consistency,  judges  generally  consider 
themselves  as  bound  to  follow  the  precedents  of  their 
predecessors  ;  and  when  imperative  justice  and  their  own 
conviction  oblige  them  to  overrule  any  of  those  prece- 
dents, they  do  so  delicately,  upon  some  actual  or  supposed 
shade  of  distinction  between  the  cases,  authorizing  an 
alteration  of  rule,  without  a  change  of  principle — which 
alteration  would  otherwise  prove  that  wrong  had  been 
done  to  either  the  former  or  the  latter  suitor — and  the  re- 
pugnant decisions  would  appear  to  form  a  code  of  legal 
incongruity,  changing  its  rules  as  often  as  it  changed  its 
interpreters,  and  exhibiting  justice  as  obscure,  and  deci- 
sion as  inconclusive. 

But  as  to  Ireland,  the  decided  opinion  of  the  celebrated 
British  judge,  Blackstone,  that  u  she  was  by  right,  as 
well  as  law,  bound  by  all  British  statutes  specially  naming 
her,"  would  have  been  a  precedent  permanently  impera- 
tive on  dependent  Irish  judges.  The  total  independence 
of  the  Irish  judges  on  the  crown  was  therefore  indispen- 
sable to  the  Irish  people,  and  was  peremptorily  demanded 
by  the  whole  nation. 

VI.  The  Volunteers  also  perceived,  that,  though  their 
exertions  for  national  independence  might,  by  their  then 
power  and  unanimity,  be  entirely  successful,  yet  England 
when  she  recovered  her  strength,  might  re-assume  hei 


130  RISE    AND    FALL 

power,  punish  the  champions  of  Irish  liberty,  and  again 
plunge  Ireland  into  its  former  state  of  dependence  and 
imbecility.* 

They,  therefore,  saw  the  necessity  of  a  mutiny  bill, 
enacted  by  their  own  parliament,  and  limited  in  its  dura- 
tion, as  in  England,  only  from  session  to  session ;  by 
which  the  Irish  parliaments  would  constitutionally  acquire 
the  power  of  protecting  their  national  independence,  as 
their  refusing  to  re-enact  the  mutiny  bill  would  at  any 
time  operate  as  a  discharge  of  the  whole  standing  army 
of  the  Irish  establishment.  This,  and  nothing  less  than 
this  could  effectually  preserve  the  nation  from  future 
shackles,  should  any  minister  of  Great  Britain  be  bold 
enough  again  to  attempt  the  subjugation  of  the  country. 
Accordingly,  this  resolution  of  the  Dungannon  meeting 
was  also  unanimously  decided  on  throughout  all  Ireland, 
and  formed  one  of  those  demands  from  which  the  Volun 
teers  determined  never  to  recede,  and  never  to  lay  down 
their  arms  until  they  had  unequivocally  obtained  it. 

Reasons  equally  cogent  and  conclusive  induced  the 
Volunteers  to  adopt  and  peremptorily  to  insist  upon  each 
of  the  other  resolutions  of  the  Dungannon  meeting  whilst 
the  old  habits  of  domination,  the  pride  of  national 
superiority,  the  prejudices  of  a  mistaken  policy,  the  avarice 
of  a  monopolizing  commerce,  and  the  principles  of  an 
arbitraiy  ministry,  equally  operated  against  such  con 
cessions.  But  England  felt  that  she  had  neither  pretences 
to  justify,  nor  means  nor  strength  to  support,  a  direct 
refusal  of  the  claims  of  Ireland. 

VII.  When  a  people  are  bold  enough  to  throw  oft 
oppression,  strong  enough  to  resist  it,  and  wise  enough 
to  be  unanimous,  they  must  succeed.  Oppression,  though 
clothed  in  all  the  haughtiness  of  arbitrary  power,  is  ever 
accompanied  by  the  timidity  of  guilt.     On  the  contrary 

*  The  Irish  Parliament  took  the  most  quiet,  constitutional,  and  effec- 
tual means  of  carrying  their  point,  that  could  possibly  be  suggested. 
Their  sessions  were  biennial,  and  consequently  their  grants  to  govern- 
ment were  for  two  years  at  once;  and  till  more  money  was  required, 
their  legislative  was  inactive.  They  now  determined  on  granting  sup. 
plies  tn  the  crown  for  six  months  only,  as  a  hint  that  they  would  grant 
bo  more  till  tteir  grievances  were  redressed :  this  had  its  effect 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  131 

a  just  resistance  to  tyranny,  however  feeble  in  its  com- 
mencement, acquires  strength  in  its  progress,  the  stimu- 
lants of  rising  liberty,  like  the  paroxysms  of  fever,  often 
communicating  a  supernatural  strength  to  a  debilitated 
body,  li eland  had  arrived  at  that  crisis,  her  natural 
vigour  was  rapidly  surmounting  the  malignancy  of  her 
disorder,  and  her  dormant  powers  at  once  burst  forth 
on  an  astonished  empire,  and  an  embarrassed  adminis- 
tration. 

By  this  time  the  national  armed  force  had  greatly 
increased,  not  only  in  numbers,  but  in  respectability,  and 
had  improved  not  only  in  discipline,  but  in  all  the  military 
requisites  for  a  regular  and  active  army. 

About  that  period  there  were  nearly  ninety  thousand 
soldiers  ready,  armed,  disciplined,  and  regimented,  burn- 
ing with  impatience  for  the  enjoyment  of  their  liberties, 
not  acting  on  a  wild  enthusiastic  impulse,  but  guided  by 
reason  and  depending  upon  justice.*  The  conduct  of 
the  British  parliament  had  taught  them  the  necessity  of 
national  unanimity,  the  whole  population  therefore  wera 
ready  to  be  embodied  if  necessity  required  it,  and 
in  one  month  five  hundred  thousand  active  soldiers 
might  have  been  enrolled  for  service.  They  saw  clearly 
that  Great  Britain,  by  the  consolidation  of  her  strength, 
had  risen  to  that  height  of  power,  which  alone  protected 
her  from  her  ambitious  neighbours,  and  that,  whilst  she 
kept  all  her  liberty  at  home  for  her  own  consumption, 
she  was  able  to  exercise  despotic  authority  over  every 
other  quarter  of  the  world,  which  she  governed.     It  was 

*  It  is  impossible  with  precision  to  compute  the  number  of  effective 
Volunteers  who  had  taken  up  arms  in  Ireland,  because  many  were  en- 
rolled who  were  incapable  of  duty.  The  number  on  paper  therefore 
exceeded  the  effective  force ;  nor  is  it  probable  that  more  than  eighty  thou- 
sand effective  disciplined  troops  could  at  that  time  have  been  brought 
into  the  field,  until  the  arming  became  general,  and  the  numbers  increased 
by  the  admission  of  Catholics,  when,  had  there  been  arms  in  the  king- 
dom for  all  who  were  anxious  to  bear  them,  above  four  hundred  thou- 
sand effective  men  certainly  would  have  come  forward.  In  the  insurrec- 
tion of  1798,  the  county  of  Kildare  alone  had  more  than  twenty  thousand 
insurgents  in  arms  and  the  county  of  Wexford  above  thirty  thousand, 
and  had  the  other  counties  furnished  in  proportion  to  their  population, 
the  amount  would  have  exceeded  a  million,  but  this  comprised  the  Catho- 
laca,  who  were  in  very  scanty  numbers  enrolled  as  Volunters  in  1782. 


132  RISE    AND    PALL 

therefore  only  by  the  same  unanimity  that  Ireland  cuild 
counteract  her  ;  and  all  the  capacities  and  talents  which 
the  Irish  people  possessed  seemed  to  collect  their  united 
strength  for  the  cause  of  their  independence. 

They  had  now,  by  the  constant  discussions  of  political 
subjects  in  every  rank  of  society,  acquired  a  capacity 
of  acute  reasoning  on  constitutional  controversies,  their 
native  eloquence  breaking  forth  at  every  meeting  nourished 
their  native  ardour,  and  almost  every  peasant  became  a 
public  orator.*  "Kings"  (said  a  private  volunteer  at 
one  of  those  provincial  assemblies  in  Leinster)  "  are,  we 
now  perceive  but  human  institutions,  Parliaments  are  but 
human  institutions,  Ministers  are  but  human  institutions, 
but  Liberty  is  a  right  Divine,  it  is  the  earliest  gift  from 
heaven,  the  charter  of  our  birth-right,  which  human 
institutions  can  never  cancel,  without  tearing  down  the 
first  and  best  decree  of  the  Omnipotent  Creator." 

The  pulpit  too  from  which  fanaticism  was  expelled,  did 
not  fail  to  become  auxiliary  to  the  general  cause.  Some 
dissenting  clergymen  in  the  north  of  Ireland  were  par- 
ticularly eloquent ;  a  passage  in  one  of  their  sermons 
deserves  to  be  recorded. 

"My  brethren  and  brother  soldiers,  said  the  pastor, 
let  us,  by  prayer  and  by  humiliation  supplicate  heaven 
to  grant  our  attainment  of  that  liberty,  without  which  life 
is  but  a  prison,  and  society  a  place  of  bondage.  Our  tute- 
lary providence  has  permitted  that  blessing  to  be  so  long 
withheld  from  us  by  the  corrupt  and  the  unworthy  only  as 
a  punishment  for  our  past  offences,  and  a  trial  for  our 
future  fortitude  and  perseverance.  But  the  time  of  our  ex- 
piation seems  now  to  have  been  completed,  a  bright  flame 

*  Eloquence  was  at  that  period  highly  estimated  and  universally  culti- 
vated in  Ireland.  The  number  of  able  men  who  at  that  period  filled  the 
bar  and  the  senate  had  never  been  equalled  at  any  former  period.  The 
flame  of  liberty  seemed  to  communicate  a  glow  to  the  language  even  of 
the  humblest  orator.  The  bar  was  not  a  trade  it  was  a  profession,  from 
which  servility  was  excluded.  The  senate  was  not  a  bank;  it  was  a 
lyceum  ;  eloquence  flourished  in  both  ;  the  students  of  the  university  had 
free  access  to  the  gallery  of  the  commons ;  their  young  minds  became 
enlarged  and  enlightened  by  what  they  daily  heard  and  admired,  and 
were  thus  trained  by  their  patriotism  and  their  imitative  powers  to  sup- 
ply the  place  of  declining  veterans.  The  change  has  been  great  and 
lamentable. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  133 

has  blazed  up  amongst  the  people,  and,  in  the  hands  of 
justice,  lights  them  to  the  plains  of  Virtue  and  of  Victory. 
The  justice  of  our  cause  has  drawn  down  that  flame  from 
a  superior  power,  and  we  may  well  anticipate,  that  through 
its  fire,  the  priests  of  Baal  will  soon  perish  before  the 
altars  of  the  Almighty." 

Almost  every  Irish  gentleman  had  now  either  raised  a 
military  corps,  or  had  enlisted  himself  in  that  of  his 
neighbour.  Some  Roman  Catholic  gentlemen  also  took  to 
arms,  and  raised  corps  composed  solely  of  persons  of  that 
persuasion,  whilst  many  Protestants,  relinquishing  their 
prejudices,  received  their  Catholic  fellow-subjects  into 
their  ranks  with  cordiality,  and  the  whole  nation  became 
almost  as  a  single  family.  The  most  profound  peace  and 
good  conduct  signalized  the  lowest  peasantry,  the  most 
perfect  and  effectual  police  was  established,  hardly  a 
public  crime  of  any  kind  was  committed  without  instant 
detection,  and  every  man  of  every  rank  seemed  to  have 
adopted  one  prominent  and  permanent  principle,  that  of 
uniting  good  order,  patriotism,  and  firmness. 

The  love  of  liberty,  however,  is  often  palled  by  enjoy- 
ment :  the  miseries  of  former  oppression  are  sometimes 
forgotten  in  the  views  of  avarice,  or  the  pursuits  of 
ambition,  and  there  are  two  many  instances  in  history,  of 
sanguinary  contests  for  the  attainment  of  independence, 
and  voluntary  relapses  into  the  fangs  of  tyranny.  Human 
nature  is  subject  to  inconsistencies,  and  man  cannot  coun- 
teract the  errors  of  his  original  formation  :  but  when  that 
inconsistency  is  the  voluntary  result  of  depraved  or  cor- 
rupted principles,  the  weakness  becomes  a  vice,  and  the 
object  disgusting.  Nor  can  there  be  a  stronger  elucidation 
of  this  position,  or  a  more  painful  comparison  of  times 
and  persons,  than  that  which  will  occur  in  the  pi  ogress 
of  this  Narrative,  where  we  shall  discover  the  very  same 
men,  who  in  1782  were  foremost  in  offering  their  lives  and 
fortunes  to  attain  the  independence  of  their  country, 
metamorphosed  on  the  Union,  eighteen  years  afterwards, 
into  the  veriest  slaves  of  direct  and  shameless  corruption, 
and  publicly  selling  themselves,  their  connections,  and 
their  country,  for  money,  for  office  or  for  title.  The 
individual  proofs  of  this  are  numerous,  indisputable  and 
aasily  produced :  and  the  comparison  will  afford  a  whoie- 

12 


134  RISE    AND    FALL 

some  lejson  for  states  and  nations  to  look  with  more 
caution  and  less  confidence  on  the  professions  of  public 
men,  who  too  frequently  remain  no  longer  honest,  than 
till  public  opinion  may  safely  be  encountered  by  plausible 
pretences.  The  shouts  of  popularity  only  gratify  the 
momentary  vanity  of  man,  whilst  successful  ambition 
rewards  more  substantially  his  pride,  or  fills  the  measure 
of  his  avarice.  The  instances  are  rare,  and  therefore 
more  precious,  of  perfect  purity  attending  public  charac- 
ter, without  deviation,  through  the  whole  course  of  its 
career. 

VIII.  Of  those  who  led  the  Volunteer  associations  in 
Leinster,  Lord  Charlemont,  the  Duke  of  Leinster,  Mr. 
Grattan,  and  Mr.  Henry  Flood,  had  the  greatest  weight 
and  authority :  their  popularity  was  extreme,  and  it  was 
merited. 

To  this  list  may  be  added  the  names  of  many  others, 
particularly  Archdall,  Stewart,  and  Brownlow,  names  that 
will  forever  remain  engraved  on  the  tablet  of  Irish  gra- 
titude, as  belonging  to  men  who  remained  steady  during 
all  the  subsequent  ordeals  through  which  their  unfortunate 
country  was  doomed  to  pass,  and  formed  a  striking  and 
melancholy  contrast  to  Altamont  and  Belvidere,  Shannon 
and  Clanricard,  Longfield  and  Nevil,  and  the  crowd  of 
those,  whose  apostacy,  in  1800,  has  stained  the  records  of 
Irish  history,  and  tarnished  the  character  of  Irish  patriot- 
ism. A  dereliction  of  public  principle  can  only  be 
accounted  for  by  reflecting,  that  the  accomplished  poli- 
tician and  the  polished  patriot  are  no  less  susceptible  of 
the  debasing  passions  of  the  human  mind,  than  the  most 
humble  and  illiterate  amongst  uncultivated  society.  High 
rank  and  influence  oftener  expose  the  dormant  errors, 
than  multiply  the  virtues  of  a  public  character. 

As  soon  as  the  Dungannon  Volunteers  had  received 
the  concurrence  of  the  armed  associations,  the  commons 
house  of  parliament  assumed  a  new  aspect.  Its  fbrmei 
submission  and  unqualified  adulation  to  the  minister  and 
the  lord  lieutenant  had  departed.  The  old  supporters  of 
the  government  seemed  only  solicitous  how  they  could 
diminish  their  obedience  without  sacrificing  their  con- 
d  2Ction,  and  every  successive  debate  showed  evident  symp- 
loins  of  an  approaching  and  decisive  crisis. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  135 

The  proceedings  of  the  people  without  doors,  now 
began  to  have  their  due  weight  on  their  representatives 
within  :  the  whole  house  appeared  forming  into  parties, 
accordingly  as  they  were  operated  on  by  different  degrees 
of  caution,  of  timidity,  of  patriotism,  and  of  interest,  the 
leaders  of  each  party  became  more  conspicuous,  and 
every  question,  however  trivial,  confessed  the  unsteadi- 
ness of  the  government,  and  betrayed  the  embarrassment 
of  its  supporters. 

Fitzgibbon  pursued  an  unvaried  course.  His  haughty 
and  inflexible  mind  despised  the  country  which  he  hoped 
one  day  to  govern.  Her  release  from  British  domination 
might  also  liberate  her  from  his  own  grasp,  and,  so  long 
as  he  could,  he  uniformly  opposed  every  measure  which 
might  tend  to  her  emancipation,  save  in  a  few  instances, 
which,  by  exposing  his  duplicity,  confirmed  his  character. 
Perfectly  indifferent  as  to  the  public,  he  every  day  gave 
fresh  proofs  of  that  arbitrary  and  impetuous  talent,  which 
so  strongly  contributed  to  bring  the  nation  to  its  end,  and 
himself  to  his  conclusion  and  he  often  embarrassed  the 
government  more  by  the  intemperance  of  his  support  than 
their  opponents  by  the  steadiness  of  their  opposition. 

A  variety  of  causes  contributed  to  add  both  numbers 
and  weight  to  the  opposition,  a'ld  gained  it  the  accession 
of  many  country  gentlemen,  whom  the  excitation  of  the 
moment  had  aroused  from  their  lethargy,  and  who  found 
it  no  longer  possible  indolently  to  temporize  on  those 
ministerial  measures,  which  even  their  own  tenantry  in 
arms  had  resolved  to  resist.  Several  on  this  principle 
united  with  the  opposition. 

The  flame  reached  even  those,  who  from  office  or  con- 
nection were  necessitated  to  adhere  to  the  measures  of 
government,  lowering  their  usual  tone  of  arrogance  and  of 
triumph,  they  condescended  to  give  reasons  for  their  con- 
duct, and  appeared  almost  to  court  a  supposition,  that  this 
adherence  was  compulsatory,  and  their  conviction  open ; 
while  the  number  was  small  of  those  who,  looking  to  the 
possibility  of  a  termination  favourable  to  government, 
and  their  future  interests,  still  gave  them  a  support,  the 
more  acceptable,  because  now  more  necessary.  But  it  was 
too  late,  negotiation  was  at  an  end,  the  mine  Was  charged, 
the  train  laid,  the  match  was  burning  the  summons  was 


136  RISE    AND    FALL 

peremptory,  and  either  surrender  or  explosion  was  inevi- 
table. At  this  moment  the  leading  characters  all  started 
from  their  ranks :  every  party  had  its  chief,  an  1  every 
chief  turned  his  eyes,  by  almost  unanimous  assent,  to  the 
eloquence  and  energy  of  the  ardent  Grattan.  The 
favourite  of  the  parliament,  the  terror  of  the  minister, 
the  intimate  friend  of  the  ablest  men,  and  the- indefati- 
gable advocate  of  his  country,  he  seemed  most  peculiarly 
calculated  to  bring  forward  some  great  or  decisive  measure, 
which  should  at  once  terminate  the  dangerous  paroxysm 
to  which  the  minds  of  the  whole  nation  were  now  worked 
up,  and  by  its  decision  inform  them,  whether  they  were 
to  receive  their  rights  from  the  justice,  or  to  enforce  them 
by  the  humiliation  of  Great  Britain. 

The  period,  however,  had  not  quite  arrived  for  this 
step.  Extensive  as  the  abilities  of  Mr.  Grattan  were, 
they  haa  many  competitors :  jealousies  intrude  themselves 
even  into  the  highest  minds ;  the  spirit  of  rivalship  is 
inseparable  from  great  talents  ;  Mr.  Grattan's  importance 
was  merely  individual,  and  he  was  then  only  advancing 
to  that  pre-eminence,  which  he  soon  after  acquired  over 
all  competitors.  Though  it  was  approaching  fast,  it  was 
evident  that  it  had  not  indisputably  arrived:  it  was 
essential  that  all  those  parties  in  the  house  should  be  a 
little  more  approximated,  before  a  measure  was  announ- 
ced on  which  unanimity  was  of  vital  importance. 

IX.  So  much  talent  never  had  before  appeared  in  the 
Irish  senate  as  at  that  particular  moment ;  rank  and 
fortune  also  were  in  higher  estimation  there  than  in 
England,  where  both  are  more  common,  and  consequently 
less  imposing.  Eloquence  and  talents  have  always  had 
their  appropriate  weight  in  a  popular  assembly ;  but 
several  members  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  in  addition  to 
splendid  talents,  having  great  fortune  and  distinguished 
rank  to  recommend  them,  the  commons  house  was  not 
as  yet  fully  prepared  to  give  so  splendid  a  lead  to  any 
individual,  who,  devoid  of  these,  had  nothing  to  recom- 
mend him  but  his  talents  and  his  character. 

Those  who  led  their  respective  parties  were  all  men 
of  eminent  abilities  or  of  extensive. connections.  Flood, 
orrattan,  Brownlow,  Burgh,  Daly,  Yelverton,  appeared 
the  most  respected  or  efficient  leaders  of  the  opposition ; 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  137 

Scott  (the  attorney  general)  and  Fitzgibbon  were  the 
most  active  and  efficient  supporters  of  government ;  while 
Daly,  Bagenall,  Sir  Edward  Newenham,  Mr.  Joseph 
Dean  and  a  number  of  country  gentlemen,  all  dissimilar 
in  habits,  and  heterogeneous  in  principles,  were  grouped 
together  without  any  particular  leader,  but  always  paid 
a  marked  deference  to  the  opinions  of  Mr.  Brownlow, 
whose  good  sense,  large  fortune,  and  reasonable  effici- 
ency, constantly  ensured  him  a  merited  attention. 

A  few  of  these  country  gentlemen  had  a  sort  of  exclu 
sive  privilege  of  speaking  without  interruption,  whether 
they  spoke  good  sense  or  folly,  with  reason  or  without, 
as  suited  their  whims,  or  accorded  with  their  capacities. 
Of  this  class  was  Mr.  Thomas  Connolly,  who  appeared 
to  have  the  largest  personal  connection  of  any  individual 
in  the  commons  house  of  parliament.  He  took  a  princi- 
pal lead  amongst  the  country  gentlemen,  because  he 
spoke  more  than  any  of  them,  though  probably  his  influ- 
ence would  have  been  greater,  if  he  had  remained  totally 
silent.  He  was  a  person  of  very  high  family,  ample  for- 
tune, powerful  connections,  and  splendid  establishments  ; 
friendly,  sincere,  honourable,  and  munificent  in  disposi- 
tion, but  whimsical,  wrongheaded,  and  positive,  his  ideas 
of  politics  were  limited  and  confused ;  he  mistook  obsti- 
nacy for  independence,  and  singularity  for  patriotism, 
and  fancied  he  was  a  Whig,  because  he  was  not  profes- 
sedly a  Tory. 

Full  of  aristocracy,  he  was  used  by  the  patriots,  when 
they  could  catch  him,  to  give  weight  to  their  resolutions, 
and  courted  by  the  government,  to  take  advantage  of  his 
whimsicality,  and  embarrass  the  opposition.  He  was  bad 
as  a  statesman,  worse  as  an  orator.  In  parliament  he 
gave  his  opinions  at  the  close  of  a  debate,  without  having 
listened  to  its  progress ;  and  attacked  measures  with  a 
sort  of  blunt  point,  which  generally  bruised  both  his 
friends  and  his  opponents.  His  qualities  were  curiously 
mixed,  and  his  principles  as  singularly  blended ;  and  if 
he  had  not  been  distinguished  by  birth  and  fortune,  he 
certainly  would  have  remained  all  his  life  in  obscurity. 

This  gentleman  had  an  extensive  circle  of  adherents. 
On  some  questions  he  was  led  away  by  their  persuasions, 
on  others,  they  submitted  to  his  prejudices,  as  a  bait  to 

12* 


138  RI^E    AND    FALL 

fix  him  on  more  important  occasions  ;  and  sometimes  ha 
differed  unexpectedly  from  all  of  them.  He  was  nearly 
al'ied  to  the  Irish  minister  at  the  discussion  of  the  union, 
and  he  followed  his  lordship's  fortunes,  surrendered  his 
country,  lost  his  own  importance,  died  in  comparative 
obscurity,  and  in  his  person  ended  the  pedigree  of  one 
of  the  most  respectable  English  families  ever  resident  ir 
Ireland. 

X.  Many  other  persons,  who  distinguished  themselves 
at  this  period  of  public  trial,  will  be  subjects  of  observa- 
tion in  the  course  of  this  memoir :  but  scarcely  any  of 
them  more  justly  deserve  notice  than  Mr.  Yelverton,  who 
was,  perhaps,  the  only  public  character  of  those  days, 
whose  every  act  could  be  with  ease  accounted  for,  his 
motives  for  the  act  being  as  palpable  as  the  act  was 
public ;  and  whether  his  conduct  was  right  or  wrong 
made  no  difference  in  this  respect,  its  causes  could  be 
traced  with  equal  facility,  and  he  generally  struggled  as 
little  against  the  propensities  of  his  nature  as  any  man 
that  ever  existed.  In  this  narrative  of  the  concerns  of 
Ireland  his  name  will  frequently  occur  ;  and  as  so  extra- 
ordinary a  character  can  never  be  forgotten  in  the  minds 
of  his  countrymen,  it  may  properly  be  anticipated. 

Barry  Yelverton,  of  humble  origin,  afterwards  Lord 
Avonmore,  and  successor  to  Hussey  Burgh,  as  chief 
baron  of  the  exchequer,  had  acquired  great  celebrity  as 
an  advocate  at  the  Irish  bar,  and  was  at  this  time  rapidly 
winging  his  way  to  the  highest  pinnacle  of  honourable 
notoriety  and  forensic  advancement.  He  had  been  elect- 
ed member  of  parliament  for  the  town  of  Carrickfergus, 
and  became  a  zealous  partisan  for  the  claims  of  Ireland. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  do  justice  to  the  lofty  and  over- 
whelming elocution  of  this  distinguished  man,  during  the 
early  periods  of  his  political  exertions.  To  the  profound, 
logical,  and  conclusive  reasoning  of  Flood ;  the  brilliant, 
stimulating,  epigrammatic  antithesis  of  Grattan  ;  the 
sweet-toned,  captivating,  convincing  rhetoric  of  Burgh  ; 
or  the  wild  fascinating  imagery  and  varied  pathos  of  the 
extraordinary  Curran,  he  was  respectively  inferior ;  but 
in  powerful,  nervous  language,  he  excelled  them  all.  A 
vigorous,  commanding,  undaunted  eloquence  burst  in 
lOning  torrents  from   his  lips,  not   a   word  was  lost 


OF    THi?     IRISH    NATION.  139 

Though  fiery,  yet  weighty  and  distinct,  the  authoritative 
rapidity  of  his  language,  relieved  by  the  beauty  of  his 
luxuriant  fancy,  subdued  the  auditor  without  the  powei 
of  resistance,  and  left  him  in  doubt,  whether  it  was  to  ar- 
gument or  to  eloquence  that  he  surrendered  his  conviction. 

His  talents  were  alike  adapted  to  public  purposes,  as 
his  private  qualities  to  domestic  society.  In  the  common 
transactions  of  the  world  he  was  an  infant ;  in  the  varie- 
ties of  right  and  wrong,  of  propriety  and  error,  a  frail 
mortal ;  in  the  senate  and  at  the  bar,  a  mighty  giant :  it 
was  on  the  bench  that,  unconscious  of  his  errors,  and  in 
his  home  unconscious  of  his  virtues,  both  were  most 
conspicuous.  That  deep-seated  vice,  which  with  equal 
power  freezes  the  miser's  heart,  and  inflames  the  ruffianV 
passions,  was  to  him  a  stranger ;  he  was  always  rich, 
and  always  poor ;  like  his  great  predecessor,  frugality  fled 
before  the  carelessness  of  his  mind,  and  left  him  the  vic- 
tim of  his  liberality,  and  of  course  in  many  instances  a 
monument  of  ingratitude.  His  character  was  entire'y 
transparent,  it  had  no  opaque  qualities ;  his  passions  were 
open,  his  prepossessions  palpable,  his  failings  obvious, 
and  he  took  as  little  pains  to  conceal  his  faults  as  to 
publish  his  perfections. 

In  politics  he  was  more  steady  to  party,  than  to  prin- 
ciple, but  evinced  no  immutable  consistency  in  either  :  a 
patriot  by  nature,  yet  susceptible  of  seduction,  a  partisan 
by  temper,  yet  capable  of  instability,  the  commencement 
and  the  conclusion  of  his  political  conduct  were  as  dis- 
tinct as  the  poles,  and  as  dissimilar  as  the  elements. 

Amply  qualified  for  the  bench  by  profound  legal  and 
constitutional  learning,  extensive  professional  practice, 
strong  logical  powers,  a  classical  and  wide  ranging  capa- 
city, equitable  propensities,  and  a  philanthropic  disposi- 
tion, he  possessed  all  the  positive  qualifications  for  a  great 
judge :  but  he  could  not  temporize ;  the  total  absence  of 
skilful  or  even  necessary  caution,  and  the  indulgence  of  a 
few  feeble  counteracting  habits,  greatly  diminished  that 
high  reputation,  which  a  cold  phlegmatic  mien,  or  a 
solemn,  imposing,  vulgar  plausibility,  confers  on  miserably 
inferior  judges. 

But  even  with  all  his  faults  Lord  Avonmore  was  vastly 
superior  to  all  his  judicial  contemporaries     If  he  was  im- 


140 


RISE    AND    FALL 


petuous,  it  was  an  impetuosity  in  which  his  heart  had  no 
concern;  he  was  never  unkind  that  he  was  not  also 
repentant ;  and  ever  thinking  that  he  acted  with  rectitude, 
the  cause  of  his  greatest  errors  seemed  to  be  a  careless 
ignorance  of  his  lesser  imperfections. 

He  had  a  species  of  intermitting  ambition,  which  either 
led  him  too  far,  or  forsook  him  altogether.  His  pursuits, 
of  course,  were  unequal,  and  his  ways  irregular.  Elevated 
solely  by  his  own  talents,  he  acquired  new  habits  without 
altogether  divesting  himself  of  the  old  ones.  A  scholar, 
a  poet,  a  statesman,  a  lawyer,  in  elevated  society  he  was 
a  brilliant  wit,  at  lower  tables,  a  vulgar  humourist;  he, 
had  appropriate  anecdote  and  conviviality  for  all,  and 
whether  in  the  one  or  in  the  other,  he  seldom  failed  to  be 
either  entertaining  or  instructive. 

He  was  a  friend,  ardent,  but  indiscriminate  even  to 
blindness,  an  enemy,  warm,  but  forgiving  even  to  folly ; 
he  lost  his  dignity  by  the  injudiciousness  of  his  selections 
and  sunk  his  consequence  in  the  pliability  of  his  nature; 
to  tiie  first  he  was  a  dupe,  to  the  latter  an  instrument,  on 
the  whole  he  was  a  more  enlightened  than  efficient  states- 
man, a  more  able,  than  unexceptionable  judge,  and  more 
honest  in  the  theory,  than  the  practice,  of  his  politics. 
His  rising  sun  was  brilliant,  his  meridian,  cloudy,  his 
setting,  obscure :  crosses  at  length  ruffled  his  temper — 
deceptions  abated  his  confidence,  time  tore  down  his 
llents  he  became  depressed  and  indifferent,  and  after  a 
ong  life  of  chequered  incidents  and  inconsistent  conduct, 
he  died,  leaving  behind  him  few  men  who  possessed  so 
much  talent,  so  much  heart,  or  so  much  weakness. 

This  distinguished  man,  at  the  critical  period  of  Ire- 
land's emancipation,  burst  forth  as  a  meteor  in  the  Irish 
senate,  his  career  in  the  commons  was  not  long,  but  it  was 
busy  and  important ;  he  had  connected  himself  with  the 
Duke  of  Portland,  and  continued  that  connection  unin 
terrupted  till  the  day  of  his  dissolution.  But  through  the 
influence  of  that  nobleman,  and  the  absolute  necessity  of 
a  family  provision,  on  the  question  of  the  Union  the 
radiance  of  his  public  character  was  obscured  for  ever,  the 
laurels  of  his  early  achievements  fell  withered  from  his 
brow,  and  after  having  with  zeal  and  sincerity  laboured 
to  attain  independence  for  his  country  in  1782.  he  became 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  141 

«ee  of  its  sale-masters  in  1800,  and  mingling  in  a  motley 
crowd,  uncongenial  to  his  native  character,  and  beneath 
his  natural  superiority,  he  surrendered  the  rights,  the 
franchises,  and  the  honours  of  that  peerage,  to  which,  by 
his  greal  talents  and  his  early  virtues,  he  had  been  so 
justly  elevated. 

Except  upon  the  bench,  his  person  was  devoid  of  dignity 
and  his  appearance  ordinary  and  mean,  yet  there  was 
something  in  the  strong,  marked  lines  of  his  rough  un- 
finished features,  which  bespoke  a  character  of  no  common 
description;  powerful  talent  was  its  first  trait,  fire  and 
philanthropy  contended  for  the  next,  his  countenance, 
wrought  up  and  varied  by  the  strong  impressions  of  his 
labouring  mind,  could  be  better  termed  indicatory,  than 
expressive ;  and  in  the  midst  of  his  greatest  errors  and 
most  reprehensible  moments,  it  was  difficult  not  to  respect 
ttud  impossible  not  to  regard  him. 


142  RISE    AND    FALL 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  alarm  in  England  increases — The  Earl  of  Carlisle  recalled  — Tin 
Duke  ot  Portland  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant — Duke  of  Portlands 
character — He  attempts  to  procrastinate — Remarks  on  the  policy  of 
tin  Union  at  that  juncture — Mr.  Grattan  refuses  to  delay  his  proceed* 
,ngs — Especial  call  of  the  house — Comparison  of  the  English  and 
Irish  Houses  of  Parliament — Character  of  Mr.  Sextcn  Perry — Embar- 
rassment of  the  Patriots — Mr.  Hutchinson  Secretary  of  State,  unex- 
pectedly  declares  the  assent  of  Government — Mr.  Ponsonby  moves  as 
address  considered  insufficient — Dangerous  dilemma  of  Parliament 

I.  As  the  proceedings  of  the  Volunteers  and  municipal 
bodies  became  every  day  more  serious  and  decisive,  and 
the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  on  the  subserviency  of 
which  the  British  ministers  had  been  so  long  accustomed 
to  rely,  assumed  an  unusual  tone  of  independence,  and 
evinced  strong  symptoms  of  an  approaching  revolution  of 
sentiment,  the  British  cabinet  were  alarmed  for  the  con- 
sequences of  further  neglect,  and  at  length  reluctantly 
gave  up  all  hopes  of  effectually  resisting  or  evading  the 
demands  of  Ireland,  they  now  only  sought  how  they  could 
best  gain  time  for  deliberation,  so  as  to  moderate  the 
extent  of  their  concessions,  and  adopt  a  mode  of  conduct 
the  least  likely  to  humiliate  the  pride,  or  alarm  the  jea- 
lousies of  Great  Britain. 

But  Lord  North's  administration  had  been  disgraced, 
and  ruined  through  their  proceedings  towards  America, 
and  were,  of  course  equally  unfit  to  negociate  with  Ireland, 
a  j  they  must  feel  the  same  repugnance,  as  in  the  American 
case,  to  concede  independence.  With  these  ministers, 
therefore,  it  was  found  impracticable  to  proceed  to  such  a 
measure,  and  they  were  at  length  necessarily  displaced. 
But  though  the  administration  was  changed  individually, 
they  were  still  a  British  government  with  the  appropriate 
characteristics  of  the  old  leaven,  and  could  not  so  suddenly 
and  radically  alter  the  fundamental  system  of  their  pre- 
decessors   or  conceal   from  the  world  the  true  motivet 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  143 

which  caused  the  change  of  sentiment  in  the  English 
councils:  in  other  words  it  was  altogether  impossible 
effectually  to  mask  the  reluctance  with  which  England 
must  at  length  retract  her  favourite  political  doctrines — 
and  the  ill  grace  with  which  she  must  strike  the  flag  of 
usurpation  to  what  she  considered  an  inferior  nation. 

In  this  state  of  things,  as  the  Earl  of  Carlisle  could  not 
act  on  measures  which  had  been  resisted  by  his  col- 
leagues it  became  absolutely  necessary  for  the  safety  of 
the  empire,  to  change  the  ministers  of  both  nations,  and 
the  appointment  of  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham  and  Mr. 
Fox  by  calling  to  his  majesty's  councils  as  much  honesty 
and  talent  as  could  reasonably  be  expected,  gave  a  new 
impulse  to  the  machine  of  Government,  and  increased 
the  hopes,  as  it  raised  the  spirits  of  the  Irish  people. 

The  members  of  the  new  cabinet  were  well  aware  that 
the  situation  of  Ireland  was  too  critical  to  be  for  a  moment 
neglected,  the  great  responsibility  which  that  critical  state 
imposed  on  their  heads,  impressed  them  with  a  full  sense 
of  the  difficulties  and  the  dangers  they  had  undertaken  to 
encounter;  and  whatever  their  private  opinions  might 
have  been  on  the  affairs  of  Ireland,  they  wisely  adopted 
a  full  tone  of  pacific  conciliation  and  professing  the  true 
Whig  doctrines  of  constitutional  liberty,  they  assumed  the 
eccentric  character  of  patriot-ministers,  an  attribute  but 
Jittle  known,  and  seldom  found  in  any  country. 

These  ministers  were  certainly  disposed  to  act  liberally, 
though  probably  to  a  narrower  extent  than  what  they  soon 
found  was  indispensable  to  the  integrity  of  the  empire ; 
for  even  Mr.  Fox  had  never  proved  himself  to  be  a  very 
attached  friend  to  the  interests  of  Ireland,  further  than  he 
was  led  by  his  general  principles  of  toleration  and  liberty, 
and  so  inattentive  had  he  been  to  the  concerns  of  that 
nation  in  the  abstract,  that  a  few  days  after  his  appoint- 
ment, he  fairly  acknowledged  himself  ignorant*  of  its  true 
state,  and  uninformed  as  to  its  real  circumstances. 

*  Mr.  Fox,  on  the  4th  of  April  1782,  wrote  to  Ix)rd  Charlemont  in 
these  words — "  With  regard  to  the  particular  points  between  the  two 
countries,  I  am  really  not  master  of  them  sufficiently  to  discuss  litem , 
but  I  can  say  in  general,  the  new  ministry  have  no  other  wish  than  to 
nettle  them  in  the  way  that  may  be  most  for  the  real  advantage  of  both 
countries,  whose  interests  cannot  be  distinct." 


144  RISE    AND    FALL 

Their  first  step,  however,  was  politic  and  laudaMe: 
they  determined  to  send  over  to  Ireland  a  nobleman  oi 
high  rank  whose  character  was  popular,  an  1  whose  prin- 
ciples were  conciliatory — and  thereby  skiliully  give  the 
colouring  of  generous  consideration  to  measures,  which  in 
fact,  were  substantially  requisite,  for  there  was  not  a  Bri- 
tish minister,  if  his  real  sentiments  had  been  known, 
whatever  his  affected  language  might  have  been,  who  did 
not  consider  the  intended  concessions  as  the  necessary 
result  of  an  imperious  necessity :  existing  circumstances 
had  left  them  no  choice,  and  the  Duke  of  Portland  was 
properly  selected  Lord  Lieutenant  for  Ireland,  as  a  fair, 
honest,  moderate  whig,  too  temperate  and  discreet  to 
irritate  faction,  and  sufficiently  plausible  to  soften  down 
the  asperity  of  parties,  by  insinuating  on  every  occasion 
the  friendly  views  of  the  new  cabinet,  and  the  kind  con- 
descension of  his  majesty  himself,  in  acceding  to  claims, 
which,  in  more  prosperous  days,  his  ministers  had  uni- 
formly and  haughtilv  rejected. 

II.  On  the  14th  of  April,  1782,  the  Duke  of  Portland 
arrived  to  take  upon  himself  the  government  of  Ireland  to 
the  great  satisfaction  of  that  nation,  and  the  Earl  of  Car- 
lisle departed,  leaving  behind  him  strong  impressions  both 
of  individual  respect  and  popular  disapprobation.  How- 
ever friendly  and  honourable  the  Earl's  disposition  to- 
wards the  Irish  nation  might  have  been,  his  administra- 
tion had  effected  nothing  permanently  advantageous, 
either  to  the  country,  to  the  minister,  or  to  his  own  repu- 
tation. The  Portugal  business  had  lost  him  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people,  and  he  left  Ireland  alive  to  all  her 
grievances — completely  awakened  from  her  slumber,  and 
no  longer  amenable  to  that  narrow  and  mistaken  policy, 
by  which  she  had  been  so  long  kept  down,  rather  than 
governed,  and  in  the  exercise  of  which  the  Earl's  admi- 
nistration had  been  by  no  means  deficient. 

The  Duke  of  Portland,  on  his  arrival  found  the  nation 
in  a  state  in  which  neither  procrastination  nor  evasion  was 
any  longer  practicable.  The  spirit  of  independence  had 
arisen  to  its  highest  pitch,  the  parliament,  no  longer  the 
vassals  of  the  British  Government  or  of  their  own,  stood 
boldly  determined  to  support  the  people,  to  reclaim  them 
to  their  old  subjection  was  impossible,  to  corrupt  them 


OF    THK    IRISH    NATION.  145 

anew  was  impracticable,  and  a  dissolution  would  have 
increased  the  numbers,  and  added  tenfold  strength  to  the 
power  of  the  patriots. 

The  Duke  therefore,  had  but  one  course  to  take,  to 
proceed  as  calmly,  deliberately,  and  slowly,  as  circum- 
stances would  admit  of,  and  endeavour,  if  possible,  to 
contract  the  number  of  concessions  which  the  Irish  nation 
were  disposed  to  insist  on.  But  to  effect  this  object  he 
was  incompetent,  he  was  not  a  man  of  talent,  and  though 
net  altogether  deficient  in  that  species  of  ambiguity  and 
equivocation,  which  are  supposed  to  constitute  a  necessary 
part  of  a  modern  minister's  education,  he  had  not  enough 
of  those  qualifications  to  carry  difficult  objects  by  dissi- 
mulation, or  ingenuity  to  defeat,  by  negociation,  measures 
which  he  had  not  the  power  of  openly  resisting.  He  was 
accounted  a  plain,  fair,  well-meaning  and  rather  high- 
minded  man,  and  had  the  peculiar  advantage  of  being 
the  first  credible  messenger  of  intended  justice  from  the 
British  Government  to  the  Irish  people. 

The  courtesy  of  the  Irish  House  of  Peers  to  so  eleyated 
a  nobleman,  combined  with  their  courtly  habits  to  all 
former  chief  governors,  procured  him  a  considerable 
strength  in  that  assembly,  but  he  found  the  House  of 
Commons  quite  beyond  his  grasp.  The  yoke  on  their 
part,  was  completely  thrown  off,  nor  could  all  his  influence 
rally  around  his  government  a  sufficient  number  of  that 
house  to  support  him  in  any  one  measure  of  delay  or 
equivocation.  He,  therefore,  pursuant  to  his  instructions 
from  the  British  cabinet,  endeavoured,  by  personal  appli- 
cation and  interviews  with  the  leading  members  of  par- 
liament and  country  gentlemen  of  the  greatest  influence, 
to  gain  a  little  time  for  deliberation,  but  he  found  the  de- 
termination of  Ireland  already  so  very  general,  and  so 
far  matured,  and  the  Volunteer  determination  so  unalter- 
ably decided  on — that  there  appeared  to  be  hardly  an 
alternative,  between  immediate  acquiescence,  or  inevita- 
ble revolution. 

Whilst  the  Duke  remained  in  this  painful  dilemma, 
irresolute  as  to  his  conduct,  the  important  crisis  was 
rapidly  approaching,  and  the  very  first  day  of  the  meeting 
of  parliament  portended  extraordinary  events,  not  like»Av 
to  diminish  the  extent  of  his  embarrassment. 

13 


146  AI8E    AMD    FALL 

Exclusive  of  the  distinguished  personages  already  men 
Honed,  many  other  eminent  men  were  daily  emerging 
from  the  general  body  of  the  commons  whose  talents  and 
eloquence,  catching  the  Same  which  surrounded  them, 
soon  added  to  that  brilliant  light  which  illuminated  the 
whole  nation.  But  the  public  eye  still  kept  steadfastly 
fixed  on  Mr.  Grattan,  as  the  person  best  qualified  to  take 
the  lead  in  asserting  the  rights  and  independence  of  his 
country.  The  style  and  fire  of  his  eloquence,  the  integ- 
rity of  his  character,  his  indefatigable  perseverance,  and 
intrepid  fortitude  of  spirit  which  had  always  great  weight 
with  the  Irish,  procured  him  a  consideration  far  above 
his  contemporaries,  in  none  of  whom  were  these  grand 
qualities  so  generally  united,  whilst  a  kind  heart,  and  the 
mild,  unassuming,  playful  manners  of  a  gentleman,  se- 
cured to  him  that  sort  of  private  esteem,  which  banishes 
the  feelings  of  rivalship  even  from  the  most  zealous  par- 
tisans. Thus  as  if  by  general  assent,  at  the  time  of  the 
Duke  of  Portland's  assuming  the  government,  was  Mr. 
Grattan  considered  by  all  ranks  as  the  chosen  champion 
for  the  independence  of  Ireland,  distinguished  by  the 
most  elevated  characters,  admired  by  the  parliament  and 
idolized  by  the  people. 

III.  Immediately  before  the  Duke  of  Portland's  arrival, 
Mr.  Grattan  had  prepared,  and  determined  to  move,  a 
general  declaration  of  rights  in  the  House  of  Commons ; 
and  it  must  have  been  an  object  of  the  utmost  importance 
to  the  Duke  either  to  prevent  that  measure  altogether,  or 
obtain  at  least  its  postponement  until  he  became  better 
acquainted  with  the  disposition  of  the  principal  persons 
of  the  country,  the  full  extent  of  their  views,  and  how  far 
he  might  be  able  to  assuage  the  general  irritation,  without 
going  the  full  length  of  their  extensive  requisitions.  It 
was  also  of  importance  to  the  credit  of  his  administration, 
that,  if  possible,  he  should  have  the  substance  of  what- 
ever he  was  authorized  to  accede  to,  made  known  by  an- 
ticipation, as  the  liberal  act  of  his  government,  through 
his  English  secretary,  rather  than  brought  forward,  as 
the  demand  of  the  people,  through  their  Irish  advocate. 
Under  these  circumstances,  an  adjournment  of  parliament 
was  a  most  desirable  object,  and  he  determined  to  attempt 
it  through  the  negociation  of  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  who  was  at 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  147 

least  as  sincere  a  man  as  his  noble  employer,  and  had 
always  expressed  himself  strongly  in  favour  of  the  inte- 
rest of  Ireland. 

The  Duke  also  felt  the  great  importance  of  a  little 
breathing-time  after  his  arrival ;  and  both  Mr.  Fox  and 
Lord  Rockingham  exerted  themselves  to  obtain  that 
object  from  the  Irish  patriots  ;  and  under  the  circumstan- 
ces in  which  his  Grace  stood,  it  might  be  supposed  that 
it  would  have  been  granted  without  much  hesitation ; 
and  in  common  times  and  cases  it  certainly  would  have 
been  but  just,  and  even  in  the  existing  one  did  not  seem 
altogether  unreasonable — for,  in  fact,  did  not  every  thing 
promise  a  harvest  of  benefits  from  the  new  administra- 
tion ?  The  avowed  and  proved  enemies  of  Ireland  had 
retired  from  offica  In  their  stead,  at  the  head  of  the 
government,  was  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham — as  a 
man,  most  excellent — as  a  statesman,  constitutional, 
honest,  liberal ;  as  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Fox,  on  the 
admirable  nature  of  whose  public  principles  eulogium 
would  be  surplusage  ;  and  for  the  management  of  thb 
affairs  of  Ireland,  the  Duke  of  Portland,  accompanied  by 
Colonel  Fitzpatrick.  A  more  propitious  prospectus  could 
hardly  be  expected ;  nor  could  England  furnish  many 
men,  on  whose  tolerating  dispositions  the  Irish  nation 
had  more  reason  to  repose.  But  still  it  could  not  be 
forgotten  that  they  were  all  Englishmen  ;  and  though 
naturally  munificent,  honourable,  and  conciliatory,  yet 
necessarily  partaking  in  some  degree  of  those  inherent 
prejudices,  which  education  favours  and  habits  confirm 
in  English  minds,  unacquainted  with  the  state  of  their 
sister  country,  and,  of  course,  cautious  of  committing 
themselves  with  the  one  country,  by  too  precipitate  and 
favourable  a  change  of  system  towards  the  other.  Men 
the  most  enlightened  on  general  principles  are  frequently 
found  feeble  on  abstract  subjects  ;  and  Mr.  Fox  was  ex- 
cusable in  his  wariness  of  adopting  sudden  determina- 
tions, repugnant  to  the  theories  and  practice  of  all  former 
ministers  and  former  parliaments  of  Great  Britain. 

Every  proper  preliminary  therefore  was  adopted  by 
the  new  ministry,  to  prepare  their  nation  for  measures 
towards  Ireland  which  never  were,  and  never  could  be 
populaT   in  England  ;  and  with  a  view  to  anticipate  the 


\48  RISE    AND    FALL 

expected  proceedings  of  the  Irish  parliament,  a  message 
was  delivered  from  the  King  to  the  British  parliament, 
on  the  18th  of  April,  1782,  stating,  "That  mistrusts  and 
jealousies  had  arisen  in  Ireland,  and  .that  it  was  highly 
necessary  to  take  the  same  into  immediate  consideration, 
in  order  to  a  final  adjustment."  This  message  from  the 
King,  when  coupled  with  the  address  of  the  British 
parliament  to  his  Majesty  in  reply,  expressive  of  "  their 
entire  and  cheerful  concurrence  in  his  Majesty's  views  of 
a  final  adjustment,"  if  they  are  to  be  understood  in  the 
plain  and  unequivocal  meaning  of  words,  and  construc- 
tion of  sentences,  clearly  import — the  conjoint  sentiments 
of  both  the  British  King  and  British  Parliament  to  pro- 
ceed to  a  final  adjustment  of  all  differences  between  the 
two  countries  ;  and  this  message  and  reply  are  here 
more  particularly  alluded  to,  because  they  form  one  of 
the  principal  points,  afterwards  relied  upon  in  the  Irish 
parliament,  as  decisive  against  any  agitation  of  the  ques- 
tion of  a  Union.  The  words  final  adjustment,  so  un- 
equivocally expressed  by  his  Majesty,  were  immediately 
acted  upon  by  the  parliaments  ot  both  nations  ;  and  the 
adjustment,  which  took  place  in  consequence  of  the 
message,  was  considered  by  the  contracting  parties  as 
decisively  conclusive  and  final— as  intended  to  be  an 
indissoluble  compact,  mutually  and  definitely  ratified 
by  the  two  nations. 

The  measure  of  a  Union,  therefore,  being  proposed, 
and  afterwards  carried  against  the  will  of  the  people- 
by  the  power,  and  through  the  corruption  of  the  execu- 
tive authority — after  the  complete  ratification  of  that 
contract,  and  after  it  had  been  acted  upon  for  seventeen 
years,  was  clearly  a  direct  infringement  of  that  final 
adjustment — a  breach  of  national  faith — an  infraction  of 
that  constitutional  federative  compact  solemnly  enacted 
by  the  mutual  concurrence  of  the  King,  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons of  Great  Britain,  and  the  King,  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons of  Ireland,  in  their  joint  and  several  legislative 
capacities.  . 

.  This  message,  therefore,  forms  a  predominant  circum- 
stance, as  applying  to  the  most  important  subsequent 
occurrences  between  the  two  nations ;  and  as  such, 
should  be  kept  in  mind  through  every  event  detailed  in 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATTGN.  149 

this  memoir.  It  also  leads  to  some  considerations,  which 
though  they  may  be  considered  as  a  digression  from  the 
transactions  which  immediately  took  place  in  consequence 
of  the  message,  are  yet  of  considerable  utility  in  eluci- 
dating the  respective  situation  of  the  two  countries,  at 
the  time  this  final  adjustment  was  proposed  by  the  King, 
and  the  sense  that  his  Majesty's  ministers,  eighteen  years 
afterwards,  were  pleased  to  give  to  the  word  Jinal,  when 
they  conceived  it  necessary  to  argue  that  it  bore,  not  a 
positive,  but  an  inconclusive  import,  and  could  only  be 
construed  as  giving  an  indefinite  scope  for  future  ne- 
gociation. 

IV.  Previous  to  the  year  1780,  the  distressed  state  of 
Ireland — the  law  of  Poyning — the  6th  of  George  the 
First — the  standing  army  under  a  permanent  mutiny 
bill — the  dependence  of  the  judges — the  absence  of  the 
Habeas  Corpus  act — the  restraints  on  commerce,  and  the 
deprivation  of  a  constitution,  had  often  suggested,  to 
some  of  the  best  friends  of  Ireland,  the  idea  of  a  com- 
plete incorporation  of  that  country  with  Great  Britain, 
as  the  only  remedy  for  its  accumulated  and  accumulating 
grievances  and  oppressions — as  the  most  advantageous 
measure  which  could  be  obtained  for  Ireland  under  its 
then  deplorable  circumstances ;  and  about  the  year 
1753,  and  subsequently  several  pamphlets  of  considei 
able  merit  were  published  on  the  subject,  detailing  the 
advantages  which  Ireland  must  necessarily  have  derived 
from  so  close  and  beneficial  a  connection. 

As  Ireland  was  then  trampled  upon,  oppressed,  and 
put  down  without  the  power  of  resistance,  or  any  pro- 
bable chance  of  ever  obtaining  justice — there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  almost  any  change  must  have  been  bene- 
ficial ;  and,  in  that  point  of  view,  a  complete  union  of  the 
two  nations  would  then  have  been,  in  many  respects, 
extremely  fortunate  for  that  ruined  country.  The  British 
parliament  had  declared  itself  paramount  to  that  of  Ireland. 
The  Irish  parliament,  tired  of  ineffectual  struggles  for 
even  the  name  of  independence,  had  become  indifferent 
to  its  fate,  and  sunk  into  a  state  of  lassitude  and  debility, 
from  which,  though  it  was  occasionally  roused  by  the 
sharp  stings  of  oppression,  it  soon  relapsed  into  its  old 
apathy,  partly  through  desDair  and  partly  through  cor- 

13* 


(60  RISK    AN1>    FALL 

ruption,  while  the  people,  kept  systematically  ignorant, 
and  of  course  having  but  little  public  mind,  and  less 
public  information,  were  naturally  indifferent  to  the 
existence  of  a  representative  assembly,  of  which  they 
neither  felt  the  honour  nor  experienced  the  utility. 

But  at  that  period  England  was  too  powerful,  too 
jealous,  and  too  haughty,  to  equalize  her  constitution  and 
her  commerce,  with  what  she  considered  as  a  conquered 
country.  She  had  then  no  object  to  obtain  from  a  captive, 
who  lay  groaning  at  her  feet,  picking  up  the  crumbs  that 
fell  from  the  rich  man's  table.  The  prejudiced,  contracted 
and  fallacious  views  which  England  then  took  of  the  state 
of  Ireland,  deceived  her  as  to  her  own  interests,  connected 
with  the  general  strength  and  prosperity  of  the  whole 
empire,  and  every  idea  of  an  incorporate  union  with 
Ireland  was  rejected  with  disdain  by  the  British  nation. 
England  had  united  herself  with  Scotland  to  avoid  the 
chance  of  a  total  separation,  which  it  was  more  than 
probable  might  otherwise  have  been  the  consequence  of 
distinct  dynasties :  but  the  state  of  Ireland  and  the  nature 
of  her  federal  connection  with  England  occasioned  no 
risk  of  such  an  event,  and  therefore  created  no  such 
uneasiness  or  necessity,  and  the  idea  seemed  to  have 
been  totally  relinquished  by  both  countries ;  by  the  one, 
because  she  was  too  haughty  and  avaricious  to  grant,  by 
the  other,  because  she  was  too  poor  and  too  dejected  to 
obtain  so  advantageous  an  arrangement. 

But  when  Ireland,  by  the  causes  heretofore  detailed, 
had  been  awakened  to  a  sense  of  her  own  strength,  and  a 
knowledge  of  her  own  resources ;  when  America  had 
shown  her  the  example  of  perseverance,  and  the  possibility 
of  obtaining  justice,  every  idea  of  annexation  to  England 
vanished  like  the  passing  wind ;  liberty  was  attainable, 
prosperity  must  follow  liberty,  and,  in  1782,  there  was 
scarcely  an  Irishman,  who  would  not  have  sooner  sunk 
under  the  ruins  of  his  country,  than  submit  to  a  measure, 
which;  a  few  years  before,  was  an  object,  at  least  of  indif- 
ference. England  too  late  perceived  its  error,  a  union  in 
1753  would  have  effectually  ended  all  claims  of  an  inde- 
pendent constitution,  by  Ireland,  in  1782,  and  would  have 
Deen  an  object  of  the  highest  importance  to  Great  Britain: 
but  now  it  was  a  word  she  durst  not  even  articulate,  the 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  151 

very  sound  of  it  would  have  been  equal  to  a  declaration 
of  hostility,  and  however  indisposed  the  new  ministers  of 
England  might  have  been  to  admit  all  the  claims  of 
Ireland,  the  words  "final  adjustment,"  so  emphatically 
used  by  his  majesty,  left  no  room  to  suppose  that  a  union 
could  be  in  contemplation,  or  ever  afterwards  be  insisted 
on :  and  yet  it  is  singular,  that  the  very  same  words, 
"final  adjustment,"  were  repeated,  by  the  Irish  minister, 
when  a  union  was  proposed  to  the  Irish  parliament 
in  1800  for  its  consideration. 

So  many  arguments  afterwards  arose  from  that  ex- 
pression, so  many  sophistical  constructions  were  placed 
on  his  majesty's  message,  so  much  duplicity  did  his  min- 
isters attribute  to  his  language,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
believe  that  all  the  ministers  of  that  day  were  unreser- 
vedly sincere,  as  to  the  finality  of  the  arrangement  made 
with  Ireland  under  its  then  commanding  attitude,  and  it 
reminds  us  of  one  very  remarkable  truism  of  Irish  history, 
that  no  compact  had  ever  before  been  entered  into  between 
the  two  countries,  that  had  not  been  infringed  or  attempted 
to  be  infringed  by  England,  when  her  power  enabled 
her,  or  her  interest  seduced  her,  to  withdraw  from  her 
engagements. 

V.  Nothing  can  more  clearly  elucidate  the  public  con- 
duct of  the  Duke  of  Portland.  In  1782,  he  came  to  Ire- 
land to  consummate  a  final  adjustment  between  the  two 
nations,  and  in  pursuance  of  such  proposal,  a  final  ad- 
justment was  apparently  effected,  passed  by  the  parlia- 
ments of  both  nations,  confirmed  by  the  honour  of  Great 
Britain,  and  sanctified  by  the  faith  of  Majesty.  The 
Duke  of  Portland  was  the  accredited  agent  of  that  final 
adjustment,  the  responsible  minister  of  both  nations,  tne 
official  voucher  of  its  perpetuity,  and  therefore  should 
have  been  the  guardian  of  that  independence,  which  was 
effected  through  himself,  and  declared  by  him,  as  viceroy, 
to  be  final  and  conclusive. 

Yet,  in  1800,  the  same  Duke  of  Portland  is  found 
retracing  all  his  former  steps,  recanting  his  Irish  creed, 
demolishing  that  independence  of  which  he  was  the 
guardian,  falsifying  his  own  words,  and  equivocating  on 
those,  of  his  sovereign  to  both  parliaments,  and  arguing 
upon  an  incongruity,  never  yet  paralleled,  namely,  thai 


152  RISE    AND    FALL 

the  words  "final"  and  "inclusive"  were  synonymous  in 
politics:  for  upon  no  other  principle  could  his  grace's 
first  and  latter  conduct  be  explained  or  justified. 

It  is  impossible  therefore  to  give  the  Duke  the  merit 
of  sincerity  towards  Ireland  in  1782.  The  altered  state 
of  Ireland  in  1800,  was  made  the  solitary  but  fallacious 
pretence  for  dissolving  a  solemn  bond,  breaking  the  ties 
of  national  faith,  and  diminishing  the  character  of  royal 
integrity. 

The  Duke  was  obliged  to  meet  the  Irish  parliament 
within  two  days  after  his  arrival ;  those  days  were 
employed  in  endeavouring  to  procure  an  adjournment  of 
the  house,  and  several  confidential  communications  took 
place  between  him,  Mr.  Grattan,  and  others,  who  had 
determined  not  to  admit  the  delay  of  a  single  hour.  The 
Duke's  arrival  in  Ireland  had  been  preceded  by  letters 
from  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham  and  Mr.  Fox  to  the 
Earl  of  Charlemont,  requesting  an  adjournment  of  par- 
liament foi  three  weeks,  and  expressing  their  conviction 
that  the  request  would  be  immediately  acceded  to.  No- 
thing could  more  clearly  prove  their  ignorance  of  the  state 
of  Ireland.  All  the  influence  of  the  crown  could  not 
have  adjourned  the  commons  for  a  single  day.  The 
people  were  too  impatient  for  any  procrastination.  By 
adjournment,  the  parliament  would  have  lost  its  charac- 
ter, and  the  members  their  influence,  anarchy  would  have 
been  the  inevitable  result,  and  instead  of  a  placid,  consti- 
tutional, parliamentary  declaration  of  rights,  a  recess 
would  probably  have  occasioned  popular  declarations  cf 
a  more  alarming  tendency.  For  c/v.v»y  reason  therefore 
an  adjournment,  though,  superficially  considered,  seemed 
an  object  of  importance  to  government,  might  have  ended 
in  measures  greatly  to  their  disadvantage. 

The  reasons  for  declining  all  delay  were  communicated 
to  the  Duke  of  Portland  by  Mr.  Grattan,  and  the  Duke, 
though  not  convinced,  having  no  power  of  resistance,  was 
passive  on  a  proceeding  which  he  could  not  encounter. 

Mr.  Grattan  also,  previously  to  proposing  his  measure 
to  parliament,  fairly  submitted  the  intended  declaration 
of  rights  to  the  Duke ;  but  it  was  rather  too  strong  and 
loo  peremptory  for  his  grace's  approbation.  He  dur-st 
ftot  however  say  he  would  oppose,  and  yet  could  not  say 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  i53 

he  would  support  it;  but  he  proposed  amendm  mts,  which 
would  have  effectually  destroyed  the  vigor  and  narrowed 
the  compass  of  these  resolutions,  and  recommended  modi- 
fications, which  would  have  neutralized  its  firmness.  Mr. 
Grattan  declined  any  alteration  whatever,  and  the  Duke 
remained  doubtful,  whether  his  friends  would  accede  to 
or  resist  it,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  he  was  himselt 
at  the  same  moment  equally  irresolute  as  to  his  own 
future  conduct :  he  had  no  time  to  communicate  with 
England,  and  his  only  resource  was  that  of  fishing  for 
the  support  of  eminent  persons  in  both  houses  of  parlia- 
ment, in  the  hope  of  being  able,  in  modifying,  to  mode- 
rate by  their  means  the  detailed  measures  which  would 
follow  the  declaration. 

Whilst  the  chief  governor  was  thus  involved  in  per- 
plexity and  doubt,  every  step  was  taken  by  the  advocates 
of  independence  to  secure  the  decisive  triumph  of  Mr. 
Grattan's  intended  declaration.  Whoever  has  individually 
experienced  the  sensations  of  ardent  expectation,  trembling 
suspense,  burning  impatience,  and  determined  resolution, 
and  can  suppose  all  those  sensations  possessing  an  entire 
nation,  may  form  some,  but  yet  an  inadequate  idea  of  the 
feelings  of  the  Irish  people  on  the  16th  of  April,  1782, 
which  was  the  day  peremptorily  fixed  by  Mr.  Grattan  for 
moving  that  declaration  of  rights,  which  was  the  proximate 
cause  of  Ireland's  short-lived  prosperity,  and  the  remote 
one  of  its  final  overthrow  and  annexation.  So  high  were 
the  minds  of  the  public  wound  up  on  the  eve  of  that 
momentous  day,  that  the  Volunteers  flew  to  their  arms 
without  having  an  enemy  to  encounter,  and,  almost 
breathless  with  impatience,  inquired  eagerly  after  the 
pi  ibability  of  events,  which  the  closs  of  the  same  day 
must  certainty  determine. 

It  is  difficult  for  any  persons,  but  those  who  have 
witnessed  the  awful  state  of  expected  revolutions  and  of 
popular  commotion,  to  describe  the  interesting  moments 
which  preceded  the  meeting  of  the  Irish  parliament ;  and 
it  is  equally  impossible  to  describe  the  no  less  interesting 
conduct  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  on  that  trying  occasion. 
Had  the  parliament  rejected  Mr.  Grattan's  motion,  no 
doubt  could  exist  in  the  minds  of  those  who  were  wit- 
to  the  temper  of  the  times,  that  the  connection  with 


154  RISE    AND    FALL 

England  would  have  been  shaken  to  its  very  foundation  j 
yet  the  most  perfect  order  and  decorum  were  observed 
by  the  armed  associations,  who  paraded  in  every  quarter 
of  the  city.  Though  their  own  ardor  and  impatience 
were  great,  they  wisely  discouraged  any  manifestation  of 
the  same  warm  feelings  amongst  the  lower  orders  of  the 
people,  and  though  they  were  resolved  to  lose  the  last 
drop  of  their  blood  to  obtain  the  independence  of  their 
country,  they  acted  as  preservers  of  the  peace,  and  by 
their  exertions  effectually  prevented  the  slightest  inter- 
ruption of  public  tranquillity :  the  awe  of  their  presence 
restrained  every  symptom  of  popular  commotion. 

VI.  Early  on  the  16th  of  April,  1782,  the  great  street 
before  the  house  of  parliament  was  thronged  by  a  multi- 
tude of  people,  of  every  class,  and  of  every  description, 
though  many  hours  must  elapse  before  the  house  would 
meet,  or  business  proceeded  on.  As  it  was  a  circumstance 
which  seldom  takes  place  on  the  eve  of  remarkable  events, 
it  becomes  a  proper  subject  of  remark,  that  though  more 
than  many  thousands  of  people,  inflamed  by  the  most 
ardent  zeal,  were  assembled  in  a  public  street,  without 
any  guide,  restraint,  or  control,  save  the  example  of  the 
Volunteers,  not  the  slightest  appearance  of  tumult  was 
observable,  on  the  contrary,  such  perfect  order  prevailed, 
that  not  even  an  angry  word  or  offensive  expression 
escaped  their  lips.  Nothing  could  more  completely  prove 
the  good  disposition  of  the  Dublin  populace,  than  this  cor- 
rectness of  demeanour,  at  a  time  when  they  had  been 
taught  that  the  very  existence  of  their  trade  and  manufac- 
tures, and  consequently  the  future  subsistence  of  them- 
selves and  their  families,  was  to  be  decided  by  the  con 
duct  of  their  representatives  that  very  evening ;  and  it 
was  gratifying  to  see  that  those  who  were  supposed  or 
even  proved  to  have  been  their  decided  enemies,  were 
permitted  to  pass  through  this  immense  assemblage, 
without  receiving  the  slightest  token  of  incivility,  and 
with  the  same  ease  as  those  who  were  known  to  be  then 
determined  friends. 

The  parliament  had  been  summoned  to  attend  this 
momentous  question  by  an  unusual  and  special  call  of  thi 
House,  and  by  four  o'clock  a  full  meeting  took  place 
The  body  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  crowded  witl 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  155 

Its  members,  z.  great  proportion  of  the  peerage  attended 
as  auditors,  and  the  capacious  gallery,  which  surrounded 
the  interior  magnificent  dome  of  the  house,  contained 
above  four  hundred  ladies  of  the  highest  distinction,  who 
partook  of  the  same  national  fire  which  had  enlightened 
their  parents,  their  husbands,  and  their  relatives,  and  by 
the  sympathetic  influence  of  their  presence  and  zeal  com- 
municated an  instinctive  chivalrous  impulse  to  eloquence 
and  to  patriotism. 

Those  who  have  only  seen  the  tumultuous  rush  of 
imperial  parliaments,  scuffling  in  the  antiquated  chapel 
of  St.  Stephen's,  crowded  by  a  gallery  of  note-takers, 
anxious  to  catch  the  public  penny  by  the  earliest  reports 
of  good  speeches  made  bad,  and  bad  speeches  made  better, 
indifferent  as  to  subjects  and  careless  as  to  misrepresenta- 
tion, yet  the  principal  medium  of  communication  between 
the  sentiments  of  the  representative  and  the  curiosity  of  the 
represented,  can  form  no  idea  of  the  interesting  appearance 
of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons.  The  cheerful  magnificence 
of  its  splendid  architecture,  the  number,  the  decorum  and 
brilliancy  of  the  anxious  auditory,  the  vital  question  that 
night  to  be  determined,  and  the  solemn  dignity  which 
clothed  the  proceedings  of  that  awful  moment  collectively 
produced  impressions,  even  on  disinterested  strangers, 
which  perhaps  had  never  been  so  strongly,  or  so  justly 
excited  by  the  appearance  and  proceedings  of  any  house 
of  legislature. 

VII.  Mr.  Sextus  Perry*  then  occupied  the  speaker's 
chair,  a  person  in  whose  integrity  the  house,  the  nation, 
and  the  government  reposed  the  greatest  confidence ;  a 
man  in  whose  pure  character,  spirit,  dignity,  independence 
of  mind,  and  honesty  of  principle,  were  eminently  con- 
spicuous; decisive,  constitutional,  patriotic,  discreet,  he 
was  every  thing  that  became  his  office,  and  every  thing 

*  Mr.  Perry  was  the  son  of  a  gentleman  of  business  in  Limerick,  and 
had  been  called  to  the  Irish  bar  where  he  practised  with  considerable 
reputation  and  success.  He  was  not  a  distinguished  orator  in  parlia- 
ment, but  few  men  ever  sat  in  that  house  more  personally  respected  by 
all  parties.  He  was  chosen  speaker  on  Mr.  Ponsonby's  resignation,  and 
his  brother  appointed  a  bishop  some  time  alter.  Mr.  Perry  was  uncle  to 
the  present  Earl  of  Limerick,  on  whom  his  estates  have  descended ;  and 
it  has  been  remarked  that  there  seldom  appeared  two  public  personaget 
more  dissimilar  than  the  uncle  and  nephew. 


156  RISE    AND    FALL 

that  became  himself.  He  had  been  a  barrister  in  exten* 
sive  practice  at  the  time  of  his  elevation,  and  to  the 
moment  of  his  death  he  never  departed  from  the  line  of 
rectitude,  which  marked  every  step  of  his  progress 
through  life,  whether  in  a  public  or  private  station.  Mr. 
Perry  took  the  chair  at  four  o'clock.  The  singular  wording 
of  the  summonses  had  its  complete  effect,  and  procured 
the  attendance  of  almost  every  member  resident  within 
the  kingdom.  A  calm  but  deep  solicitude  was  apparent 
on  almost  every  countenance,  when  Mr.  Grattan  entered, 
accompanied  by  Mr.  Brownlow  and  several  others,  the 
determined  and  important  advocates  for  the  declaration 
of  Irish  independence.  Mr.  Grattan's  preceding  exertions 
and  anxiety  had  manifestly  injured  his  health;  his 
tottering  frame  seemed  barely  sufficient  to  sustain  his 
labouring  mind,  replete  with  the  unprecedented  impor- 
tance and  responsibility  of  the  measure  he  was  about  to 
bring  forward.  He  was  unacquainted  with  the  reception 
it  would  obtain  from  the  connections  of  the  government, 
he  was  that  day  irretrievably  to  commit  his  country  with 
Great  Britain,  and  through  him  Ireland  was  either  to  assert 
her  liberty,  or  start  from  the  connection.  His  own  situation 
was  tremendous,  that  of  the  members  attached  to  the 
administration  embarrassing,  that  of  the  people  anxious  to 
palpitation.  For  a  short  time  a  profound  silence  ensued, 
it  was  expected  that  Mr.  Grattan  would  immediately  rise 
when  the  wisdom  and  discretion  of  the  government  gave 
a  turn  to  the  proceedings,  which  in  a  moment  eased  the 
parliament  of  its  solicitude,  Mr.  Grattan  of  the  weight 
that  oppressed  him,  and  the  people  of  their  anxiety,  Mr. 
Hely  Hutchinson  (then  secretary  of  state  in  Ireland)  rose. 
He  said,  that  his  Excellency  the  Lieutenant  had  ordered 
him  to  deliver  a  message  from  the  King,  importing,  that 
"  His  Majesty,  being  concerned  to  find  that  discontents 
and  jealousies  were  prevailing  amongst  his  loyal -subjects 
of  Ireland,  upon  matters  of  great  weight  and  importance, 
recommended  to  the  house  to  take  the  same  into  their  most 
serious  consideration,  in  order  to  effect  such  a  final  ad- 
justment as  might  give  satisfaction  to  both  kingdoms.* 
And  Mr.  Hutchinson  accompanied  this  message — and  his 
statement  of  his  own  views  on  the  subject  with  a  deter- 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  "157 

mination  to  support  a  declaration  of  Irish  rights,  and 
constitutiona  1  independence. 

VIII.  Notwithstanding  this  official  communication,  the 
government  members  were  still  greatly  perplexed  how  to 
act.  Mr.  Grattan' s  intended  declaration  of  independence 
was  too  strong,  decisive,  and  prompt  to  be  relished  as  the 
measure  of  any  government,  it  could  neither  be  wholly 
resisted,  nor  generally  approved  of,  by  the  viceroy.  His 
secretary  Colonel  Pitzpatrick,  was  not  yet  in  parliament, 
all  modification  whatsoever  had  been  rejected  by  Mr. 
Grattan  and  his  friends  ;  and  it  is  generally  believed,  that 
the  members  of  government  went  to  parliament  that  day 
without  any  decided  plan  or  system,  but  determined  to 
regulate  their  own  individual  conduct  by  the  circumstances 
which  might  occur,  and  the  general  disposition  indicated 
by  the  majority  of  the  house  in  the  course  of  the  pro- 
ceedings. 

IX.  Thus,  on  the  16th  of  April,  1782,  after  nearly  700 
years  of  subjugation,  oppression,  and  misery,  after  centu- 
ries of  unavailing  complaint,  and  neglected  remonstrance 
did  the  King  of  Ireland,  through  his  Irish  secretary  of 
state,  at  length  himself  propose  to  redress  those  grievances 
through  his  Irish  parliament ;  an  authority  which,  as  King 
•of  England,  his  minister  had  never  before  recognised  or 
admitted.  In  a  moment  the  whole  scene  was  completely 
changed ;  those  miserable  prospects  which  had  so  long 
disgusted,  and  at  length  so  completely  agitated  the  Irish 
people,  vanished  from  their  view :  the  phenomena  of  such 
a  message  had  an  instantaneous  and  astonishing  effect, 
and  pointed  out  such  a  line  of  conduct  to  every  party 
and  to  every  individual,  as  left  it  almost  impossible  for 
any  but  the  most  mischievous  characters,  to  obstruct  the 
happy  unanimity  which  now  became  the  gratifying  result 
of  this  prudent  and  wise  proceeding. 

Mr.  Hutchinson,  however,  observed  in  his  speech,  that 
he  was  not  officially  authorized  to  say  more,  than  simply 
to  deliver  the  message ;  he  was  therefore  silent  as  to  all 
details,  and  pledged  the  government  to  none,  the  parlia- 
ment would  act  upon  the  message  as  to  themselves  might 
seem  advisable.  Another  solemn  pause  now  ensued,  Mr. 
Grattan  remained  silent,  when  Mr.  George  Pousonby  rose 
and,  after  eulogising  the  King,  the  British  Minister,  and 

14 


158  RISE    AND    FALL 

the  Irish  Government,  simply  proposed  an  humble  address 
in  reply,  "  thanking  the  King  for  his  goodness  and  con- 
descension, and  assuring  his  majesty  that  his  faithful  com- 
moners would  immediately  proceed  upon  the  great  objects 
he  had  recommended  to  their  consideration." 

X.  This  uncircumstantial  reply,  however,  fell  very  short 
of  the  expectation  of  the  house,  or  the  intentions  of  Mr. 
Grattan.  On  common  occasions  it  would  have  answered 
the  usual  purposes  of  incipient  investigation;  but  the 
subject  of  Irish  grievances  required  no  committee  to 
investigate,  no  protracted  debates  for  further  discussion. 
The  claims  of  Ireland  were  already  well  known  to  the 
King  and  to  his  ministers ;  they  had  been  recorded  by 
the  Dungannon  convention,  and  now  only  required  a  par- 
liamentary adoption  in  terms  too  explicit  to  be  miscon- 
strued, and  too  peremptory  to  be  rejected.  It  is  true,  the 
good  intentions  of  his  majesty  were  announced — the 
Favourable  disposition  of  his  cabinet  communicated,  a  re- 
dress of  discontents  and  jealousies  suggested,  but  nothing 
specific  was  vouched  or  even  alluded  to;  the  present 
favourable  government  might  be  displaced,  and  the  King's 
conceding  intentions  changed  by  a  change  of  ministers, 
and  Ireland  thus  be  again  committed  with  Great  Britain 
under  circumstances  of  diminished  strength,  and  more 
difficult  adjustment,  every  man  perceived  the  crisis,  but 
no  man  could  foresee  the  result,  some  decisive  step 
appeared  inevitable,  but  without  great  prudence  that  step 
might  be  destructive,  popular  impetuosity  frequently  de- 
feats its  own  objects,  the  examples  of  European  history 
in  atf  ages  have  proved,  that  rash  or  premature  efforts  to 
shake  off  oppression,  generally  confirmed,  or  rent  the 
chains  of  despotism  from  the  grasp  of  one  ruler,  only  to 
transfer  them  with  stronger  rivets  to  the  power  of  a  suc- 
cessor. It  is  less  difficult  to  throw  off  the  trammels  of 
an  usurping  government,  than  to  secure  the  preservation 
of  a  new-gained  constitution,  and  in  cold  and  phlegmatic 
nations  where  the  sublime  principles  of  political  freedom 
were  less  investigated  or  less  valued  than  in  Ireland  at 
that  enlightened  epoch,  more  comprehensive  powers 
might  be  entrusted  to  the  prudence  of  the  people  or  dele- 
gated to  the  guardianship  of  selected  chieftaius  but  in  an 
ardent  nation,  distinguished  more  for  its  talents  and  its 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  151 

enthusiasm,  than  for  its  steadiness  or  its  foresight,  where 
every  man  fostered  his  heated  feelings,  and  the  appetite 
for  liberty  was  whetted  even  to  voracity  by  the  slavery 
of  ages,  hasty  or  violent  proceedings,  however  they  might 
for  a  moment  appear  to  promote  a  rescue  of  the  country 
from  existing  evils,  would  probably  plunge  it  still  deeper 
into  unforeseen  and  more  deplorable  misfortunes,  vision- 
ary men  and  visionary  measures  are  never  absent  from 
such  political  struggles,  but  if  the  phrenzy  of  Eutopian 
speculations  gets  wing  amongst  a  people,  it  becomes  the 
most  plausible  pretext  to  oppressive  rulers,  and  the  most 
destructive  enemy  to  the  attainment  of  constitutional 
liberty ;  and  at  this  important  crisis,  had  one  rash  step 
prematurely  committed  Ireland  and  Great  Britain  in 
hostile  struggle,  the  contest  would  have  ended  in  the 
ruin  of  one  country,  if  not  of  both. 

These  considerations  had  great  weight,  and  excited 
great  embarrassments  amongst  the  leading  members  in 
the  Irish  Parliament,  different  characters  of  course  tooK 
different  views  of  this  intricate  subject,  strength  of  intel- 
lect, courage,  cowardice,  interest,  ignorance,  or  informa- 
tion, naturally  communicated  their  correspondent  im- 
pressions, and  but  few  persons  seemed  entirely  to  coin* 
cide  on  the  specific  limits  to  which  these  popular  pn> 

dings  might  advance  with  safety. 


160  RISE    AND    FALT. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

Mr.  Grattan  moves  a  declaration  of  rights  and  grievances  in  Parliament 
— Mr.  Brownlow— Mr.  George  Ponsonby — Mr.  Flood — Mr.  Fitzmb- 
bon's  conduct — His  Declaration  of  Independence — Enthusiastic  T6» 
joicings. 

I.  Mr.  Grattan  had  long  declared  the  absolute  necessity 
of  gratifying  the  people  by  a  legislative  declaration  of 
Irish  rights  and  constitutional  independence,  marking  out 
by  an  indelible  record  that  sacred  Rubicon  past  which 
the  British  government  should  never  more  advance,  and 
beyond  which  the  Irish  nation  should  never  wander.  On 
that  point  the  fate  of  Ireland  vibrated  as  on  a  pivot,  it 
must  rise  or  it  must  fall,  it  could  no  longer  remain  sta- 
tionary, and  the  great  landed  proprietors  strongly  felt 
that  they  must  necessarily  participate  in  its  vicissitudes, 
the  court  had  totally  lost  its  influence,  the  people  had 
entirely  acquired  theirs,  the  old  system  of  Irish  govern- 
ment was  annihilated,  and  the  British  cabinet  had  neither 
the  wisdom  nor  the  disposition  to  take  a  decisive  lead  in 
more  popular  arrangements,  the  parliament  and  the  peo- 
ple were  gradually  drawing  together,  an  instinctive  sense 
of  the  common  difficulty  called  all  men  towards  some 
common  centre,  and  as  that  centre,  all  parties,  all  sects, 
and  all  factions  looked  to  the  talents  and  the  honesty  of 
Mr.  Grattan,  they  knew  that  he  had  no  object  but  his 
country,  and  no  party  but  its  supporters,  they  knew  that 
his  energetic  mind  could  neither  be  restrained  by  resist- 
ance nor  neutralized  by  subterfuge,  he  possessed  all  those 
intellectual  qualities  best  calculated  to  lead  the  Irish  peo- 
ple to  the  true  standard  of  freedom. 

II.  It  is  an  observation  not  unworthy  of  remark,  that  in 
describing  the  events  of  that  important  evening,  the  struc- 
ture of  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  (as  before  mentioned) 
at  the  period  of  these  debates  was  particularly  adapted 
**>  convey  to  the  people  an  impression  of  dignity  and  of 


OP   THE    IRISH    NATION.  161 

splendor  in  their  legislative  assembly,  the  interiot  of  the 
Commons  House  was  a  rotunda  of  great  architectural 
magnificence ;  an  immense  gallery,  supported  by  Tuscan 
pillars,  surrounded  the  inner  base  of  a  grand  and  lofty 
dome,  in  that  gallery,  on  every  important  debate,  nearly 
seven  hundred  auditors  heard  the  sentiments  and  learned 
the  characters  of  their  Irish  representatives  ;  the  gallery 
was  never  cleared  on  a  division  ;  the  rising  generation 
acquired  a  love  of  eloquence  and  of  liberty,  the  principles 
of  a  just  and  proud  ambition,  the  details  of  public  busi- 
ness, and  the  rudiments  of  constitutional  legislation. 

The  front  rows  of  this  gallery  were  generally  occupied 
by  females  of  the  highest  rank  and  fashion,  whose  pre- 
sence gave  an  animating  and  brilliant  splendour  to  the 
entire  scene,  and  in  a  nation  such  as  Ireland  then  was, 
from  which  the  gallant  principles  of  chivalry  had  not 
been  altogether  banished,  contributed  not  a  little  to  the 
preservation  of  that  decorum  so  indispensable  to  the 
dignity  and  weight  of  deliberative  assemblies. 

This  entire  gallery  had  been  crowded  at  an  early  hour 
by  personages  of  the  first  respectability  of  both  sexes,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  describe  the  interesting  appearance 
of  the  whole  assemblage  at  this  awful  moment ;  after  the 
speech  of  Mr.  Hutchinson,  which  in  fact  decided  nothing, 
a  low  confidential  whisper  ran  through  the  house,  and 
every  member  seemed  to  court  the  sentiments  of  his 
neighbour  without  venturing  to  express  his  own,  the 
anxious  spectators,  inquisitively  leaning  forward,  awaited 
with  palpitating  expectation  the  development  of  some 
measure  likely  to  decide  the  fate  of  their  country,  them- 
selves, and  their  posterity,  no  middle  course  could  possibly 
be  adopted,  immediate  conciliation  and  tranquillity,  or 
revolt  and  revolution,  was  the  dilemma  which  floated  on 
every  thinking  mind,  a  solemn  pause  ensued,  at  length 
Mr.  Grattan,  slowly  rising  from  his  seat,  commenced  the 
most  luminous,  brilliant,  and  effective  oration  ever  deli- 
vered in  the  Irish  parliament. 

This  speech,  ranking  in  the  V3ry  first  class  of  effective 
eloquence,  rising  in  its  progress,  applied  equally  to  the 
sense,  the  pride  and  the  spirit  of  the  nation,  every  suc- 
ceeding sentence  increased  the  interest  which  his  exor- 
dium had  excited,  trampling  upon  the  arrogant  claims 

14* 


£62  RISE   At<D  fall 

and  unconstitutional  usurpations  of  the  Bittish  govern 
ment,  he  reasoned  on  the  enlightened  principle  of  a  fede- 
rative compact,  and  urged  irresistibly  the  necessity,  the 
justice,  and  the  policy  of  immediately  and  unequivocally 
declaring  the  constitutional  independence  of  the  Irish  na- 
tion, and  the  supremacy  of  the  Irish  parliament,  as  the  only 
effectual  means  of  preserving  the  connection  between  the 
two  nations.  His  arguments  were  powerful  and  conclu- 
sive, but  they  were  not  original,*  it  was  the  very  same 
course  of  argument  which  that  great  Irish  statesman, 
Molyneux,  had  published  near  a  century  before,  the  same 
principles  on  which  Swift,'the  ablest  of  Irish  patriots,  had 
defended  his  country,  and  the  same  which  that  less  able, 
but  not  less  sincere  and  honest  friend  to  Ireland,  Dr.  Lucas, 
had  continually  maintained,  frequently  in  opposition  to 
the  doctrines  of  Mr.  Grattan's  own  father.  Some  pas- 
sages of  this  oration  were  particularly  characteristic  of 
Mr.  Grattan's  energetic  manner.  "  He  admired  that 
steady  progressive  virtue  which  had  at  length  awakened 
Ireland  to  her  rights,  and  roused  her  to  her  liberties,  he 
was  not  yet  old,  but  he  remembered  her  a  child,  he  had 
watched  her  growth,  from  childhood  she  grew  to  arms, 
from  arms  she  grew  to  liberty ;  whenever  historic  annals 
tell  of  great  revolutions  in  favour  of  freedom,  they  were 
owing  to  the  quick  feelings  of  an  irritated  populace  excited 

*  It  is  a  circumstance  worthy  of  observation,  that  the  principal  argu- 
ments of  Mr.  Grattan  went  to  establish  the  same  doctrines,  and  were 
expressed  partly  in  the  very  same  words,  as  those  of  Mr.  Molyneux  and 
Dr.  Lucas,  and  that  Mr.  Grattan's  speech  was  received  with  universal 
approbation  by  parliament,  and  these  principles  of  Irish  independence 
acceded  to  by  the  King's  government,  and  even  supported  by  his  law 
officers,  whilst  the  celebrated  book  published  by  Mr.  Molyneux..  con- 
taining the  same  "  claims  of  Ireland,"  had  been  voted  a  treasonable  libel 
by  the  Irish  parliament,  when  under  the  influence  of  the  English  gov- 
ernment, and  was  ordered  to  be  burned  by  the  hands  of  the  common 
hangman,  which  sentence  was  accordingly  executed  before  the  door  of 
the  House  of  Lords ;  and  that  Dr.  Lucas,  for  publishing  the  same  princi- 
ples at  a  later  period,  had  been  voted  an  enemy  to  his  country,  and  neces- 
sitated to  fly  from  Ireland  for  his  safety. 

Nothing  can  more  strongly  exemplify  the  dreadful  vassalage  into 
which  the  Irish  nation  had  sunk,  or  prove  the  inestimable  value  of  ?i.i« 
tional  independence,  than  the  fact  that  Mr.  Grattan  gained  immortal 
honour  and  substantial  rewards  for  the  same  acts  for  which  his  illustrious 
predecessors  had  been  declared  enemies  to  their  country  Such  are  tin 
Mm] ting  distinctions  of  slavery  and  of  freedom. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  163 

by  some  strong  object  presented  to  their  senses,  such  was 
the  daughter  of  Virginius  sacrificed  to  virtue,  such  were 
the  meagre  and  haggard  looks  of  the  seven  Bishops  sacri- 
ficed to  liberty.  But  it  was  not  the  sudden  impulse  of 
irritated  feelings  which  had  animated  Ireland,  she  had 
calmly  mused  for  centuries  on  her  oppressions,  and  as  de- 
liberately rose  to  rescue  the  land  from  her  oppressors. 

For  a  people  to  acquire  liberty  they  must  have  a  lofty 
conception  of  themselves,  what  sets  one  nation  above 
another,  but  the  soul  that  dwells  within  her?  deprive  it 
of  its  soul,  it  may  still  retain  a  strong  arm,  but  from  that 
moment  ceases  to  be  a  nation,  of  what  avail  the  exertions 
of  Lords  and  Commons  if  unsupported  by  the  soul  and  the 
exertions  of  the  people  ?  the  Dungannon  meeting  had 
spoken  this  language  with  the  calm  and  steady  voice  ot 
an  injured  country,  that  meeting  had  been  considered  as 
an  alarming  measure,  because  it  was  unprecedented  but 
it  was  an  original  transaction,  and  all  original  transactions 
must  be  unprecedented ;  the  attainment  of  Magna  Charta 
had  no  precedent,  it  was  a  great  original  transaction,  not 
obtained  by  votes  in  parliament,  but  by  Barons  in  the 
field,  to  that  great  original  transaction  England  owes  her 
liberty,  and  to  the  great  original  transaction  at  Dungan- 
non, Ireland  will  be  indebted  for  hers,  the  Irish  Volunteers 
had  associated  to  support  the  laws  and  the  constitution,  the 
usurpations  of  England  have  violated  both,  and  Ireland 
has  therefore  armed  to  defend  the  principles  of  the  British 
constitution  against  the  violations  of  the  British  govern- 
ment. Let  other  nations  basely  suppose  that  people  were 
made  for  governments,  Ireland  has  declared  that  govern- 
ments were  made  for  the  people,  and  even  crowns,  those 
great  luminaries  whose  brightness  they  all  reflect,  can 
receive  their  cheering  fire  only  from  the  pure  flame  of  a 
free  constitution.  England  has  the  plea  of  necessity  for 
acknowledging  the  independence  of  America,  for  admitting 
Irish  independence  she  has  the  ilea  of  justice  ;  America 
has  shed  much  English  blood,  and  America  is  to  be  free : 
Ireland  has  shed  her  own  blood  for  England,  and  is 
Ireland  to  remain  in  fetters?  is  Ireland  to  be  the  only 
nation  whose  liberty  England  will  not  acknowledge,  and 
whose  affections  she  cannot  subdue  ?  we  have  received 


164  RISE    AND    FALL 

the  civic  crown  from  our  people,  and  shall  we  like  slavei 
lay  it  down  at  the  feet  of  British  supremacy  ?" 

Proceeding  in  the  same  glow  of  language  and  of 
reasoning,  and  amidst  an  universal  cry  of  approbation, 
Mr.  Grattan  went  fully  into  a  detail  of  Irish  rights  and 
grievances,  and  concluded  his  statement  by  moving,  as  an 
amendment  to  Mr.  Ponsonby's  motion — "  That  an  hum- 
ble address  be  presented  to  his  Majesty,  to  return  his  Ma- 
jesty the  thanks  of  this  house  for  his  most  gracious  mes- 
sage to  this  house,  delivered  by  his  Grace  the  Lord 
Lieutenant. 

"  To  assure  his  Majesty  of  our  unshaken  attachment 
to  his  Majesty's  person  and  government,  and  of  our  lively 
sense  of  his  paternal  care  in  thus  taking  the  lead  to  admi- 
nister content  to  his  Majesty's  subjects  of  Ireland. 

"  That  thus  encouraged  by  his  royal  interposition,  we 
shall  beg  leave,  with  all  duty  and  submission,  to  lay  before 
his  Majesty  the  cause  of  all  our  discontents  and  jealousies ; 
to  assure  his  Majesty  that  his  subjects  of  Ireland  are  a 
free  people,  that  the  crown  of  Ireland  is  an  imperial 
crown,  inseparably  connected  with  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  on  which  connection  the  interests  and  happiness 
of  both  nations  essentially  depend — but  that  the  kingdom 
of  Ireland  is  a  distinct  kingdom,  with  a  parliament  of  her 
awn  the  sole  legislature  thereof — that  there  is  no  body  of 
men  competent  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  nation  but  the 
King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland — nor  any  parlia- 
ment which  hath  any  authority  or  power  of  any  sort  what- 
ever in  this  country,  save  only  the  parliament  of  Ireland 
—to  assure  his  Majesty,  that  we  humbly  conceive  that  in 
this  right  the  very  essence  of  our  liberty  exists — a  right 
which  we,  on  the  part  of  all  the  people  of  Ireland,  dc 
claim  as  their  birthright,  and  which  we  cannot  yield 

BUT  WITH  OUR   LIVES." 

The  effect  of  this  speech,  and  the  concluding  amend- 
ment, was  instantaneous  and  decisive.  A  legislative  de- 
claration of  independence  at  once  placed  the  rights  and 
determinations  of  Ireland  on  a  footing  too  high  to  be 
relinquished  without  an  exterminating  contest ;  the  cir- 
cumstances of  both  nations  were  imperative ;  Ireland  was 
committed  and  must  persist,  and  Great  Britain  had  la- 
vished  in    America   her    powers   of    resistance.     That 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  165 

hai.^hty  government,  which  in  all  the  arrogance  of  supe- 
noi  force  had  for  so  many  centuries  lorded  over  the 
natural  rights  and  scoffed  at  the  groans  of  her  sistei 
country,  at  length  reached  the  highest  climax  of  oppres- 
sion  and  intolerance,  and  was  necessitated  to  acknowledge 
the  wrongs  and  the  virtues  of  that  people,  and  peaceably 
capitulate  to  a  nation  which,  by  honest  means,  it  might 
at  any  time  have  conciliated.  The  whole  house  in  a  mo- 
ment caught  the  patriotic  flame,  which  seemed  to  issue 
from  every  bench  of  the  entire  assembly.* 

III.  Mr.  Grattan  had  selected,  to  second  and  support 
his  declaration,  a  person  who  gave  it  as  much  influence 
as  character  and  independence  could  possibly  commu- 
nicate. Well  aware  of  the  great  importance  which  was 
attributed  to  the  accession  of  the  landed  interest  in  par- 
liamentary measures,  he  judiciously  selected  Mr.  Brown- 
low,  member  for  the  county  of  Armagh,  as  one  of  the 
first  of  the  country  gentlemen  in  point  of  wealth  and 
reputation. 

No  man  could  be  better  adapted  to  obtain  the  concur- 
rence of  the  landed  interest  than  Mr.  Brownlow.  His 
own  stake  in  the  country  was  too  great  to  be  risked  on 
giddy  speculations ;  his  interests  were  entirely  identified 
with  those  of  the  country ;  and  having  no  courtly  con- 
nections to  detract  from  his  independence,  or  aristocratic 
taints  to  trifle  with  his  purity,  every  thing  he  said,  and 
every  measure  he  supported,  carried  a  certain  portion  of 
influence  amongst  the  country  gentlemen,  and  they  often 
followed  his  example  solely  because  they  could  not  sus- 
pect its  honesty. 

The  great  body  of  the  landed  proprietors  in  parlia- 
ment, though  intrinsically  honest,  were  simple,  prejudiced, 
refractory,  and  gregarious ;  the  Government,  on  ordinary 
occasions,  found  it  not  difficult  to  delude  or  disunite 
them :  and  even  on  this  day,  without  such  a  leader  as  Mr. 
Brownlow,  the  entire  unanimity  of  their  opinion  on  their 
conduct  could  by  no  means  be  depended  on. 

*  The  author  of  this  work,  then  a  student  in  the  University  of  Dub- 
tin,  was  present  at  this  important  scene  v.s  a  spectator,  and  the  impres- 
sion it  made  on  his  youthful  mind,  years  have  not  been  able  in  any  de- 
gree to  efiace  ;  and  he  is  therefore  enabled  to  delineate  the  circumstance! 
attending  that  important  event  with  more  than  ordinary  accuracy.  In 
truth,  time  has  not  left  many  contemporaries  to  tell  the  story. 


166  HI3F    AND    FALL 

After    Mr.   Gia1:an    had    conclndec ,    Mr.    Brownlovf 

instantly  rose — a  general  symptom  of  approbation  ran 
through  the  house  at  perceiving  so  weighty  an  auxiliary 
to  so  decisive  a  declaration — his  example  gave  counte- 
nance to  many,  and  confidence  to  all— his  speech  was 
short,  but  it  was  decided,  and  expressed  in  such  terms  as 
at  once  determined  the  country  gentlemen  to  adopt  the 
measure  in  its  fullest  extent  without  further  delay,  and 
to  pledge  their  lives  and  fortunes  to  the  support  and 
establishment  of  Irish  independence ;  he  said,  "  as  he 
had  the  honour  to  second  the  mover  in  adversity,  he 
could  not  avoid  maintaining  the  same  honour  at  a 
moment  of  triumph.  He  had  long  seen  that  things  must 
come  to  this ;  the  people  had  learned  their  rights,  and 
they  would  have  them — an  end  has  been  proclaimed  to 
temporizing  expedients — to  artful  delay,  and  to  political 
junctions — the  people  have  demanded  their  rights,  and 
the  Irish  parliament  will  support  them  with  their  lives 
and  fortunes.  He  would  leave  the  other  side  of  the 
house  to  discuss  the  subject,  and  if  they  were  anxious  to 
atone  for  their  past  conduct,  he  would  not  check  the 
ardour  of  t'^eir  pr/;iotism,  which,  after  being  so  long 
restrained,  seemed  ready  to  burst  forth,  and  he  should 
rejoice  in  the  explosion.  As  to  the  declaration  of  rights, 
the  honourable  gentleman  would  have  the  eternal  gratifi- 
cation of  having  reared  this  infant  child — his  (Mr. 
Brownlow's)  only  merit  would  be,  that,  though  he  could 
not.  maintain  it  with  ability,  his  utmost  zeal  should  be 
exerted  to  support  it." 

On  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Brownlow's  speeeh,  another 
short  pause  ensued  ;  but  it  was  not  a  pause  of  doubt — 
the  measure  was  obviously  decided — the  victory  was 
complete — nothing  remained  in  suspense  but  through 
whom,  and  by  what  species  of  declaration  the  Govern- 
ment could  submit  to  so  strong  a  measure  ;  some  of  the 
officers  of  the  crown  had  been  the  servants  of  the  last 
administration,  and  the  short  period  from  the  arrival  of 
the  Duke  of  Portland  had  given  no  time  to  his  cabinet 
for  consideration  or  concert — the  dynasty  of  diplomatic 
evasion  had  ceased  to  reign — and  for  the  first  time  in 
the  annals  of  British  history,  the  officers  and  ministers  of 
government   appeared  to   be  tet  loose   upon  the  parlia 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  167 

meiit,  to  recant  their  principles  and  capitulate  *oi  theii 
characters.  The  first  they  performed,  the  latter  they 
failed  in.  Men  may  pity  the  feelings  of  a  vanquished 
enemy,  but  they  can  never  securely  trust  to  his  compul- 
sory repentance,  and  they  who  had  expended  every  day 
of  their  political  life  in  upholding  the  principle  of  British 
supremacy,  could  hardly  expect  to  receive  more  confi- 
dence from  the  nation  than  that  which  belongs  to  the 
character  of  defeated  apostates. 

IV.  Mr.  George  Ponsonby,  on  the  part  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant,  submitted  with  as  good  a  grace  as  the  cir- 
cumstance would  admit  of,  to  a  proceeding  which  it  was 
impossible  could  be  pleasing  to  any  English  ministry. 
Mr.  Ponsonby  had  been  generally  in  opposition  since  the 
time  of  his  father's  disagreement  with  Lord  Townsend, 
and  his  family  being  entirely  attached  to  the  Whig  inter- 
ests of  England,  the  change  of  ministry  naturally  brought 
to  the  Marquis  of  Rockingham's  administration  and  aid, 
tne  persons  who  had  been  so  long  in  opposition  to  his 
predecessor.  Mr.  Ponsonby's  family,  of  course,  con- 
nected itself  in  Ireland  with  the  Duke  of  Portland,  and 
it  was  expected  that  he  would  have  been  placed  high  in 
confidence  under  his  Grace's  administration. 

Blending  an  aristocratic  mind  with  patriotic  feelings, 
and  connected  with  a  Viceroy  who  could  himself  hardly 
guess  the  road  he  might  have  to  travel,  Mr.  Ponsonby 
could  not  at  such  a  moment  be  expected  to  play  the  full 
game  of  popular  expectation.  Extensive  and  high  family 
connections,  whatever  party  they  espouse  in  public  trans- 
actions, ever  communicate  some  tints  of  their  own 
colouring,  and  impose  some  portion  of  voluntary  res- 
traint upon  the  free  agency  of  public  characters — and 
had  Mr.  Ponsonby  been  an  isolated  man,  he  would  have 
been  a  more  distinguished  personage.  A  nation  may 
sometimes  look  with  confidence  to  individuals,  but  they 
are  a  credulous  people  who  look  with  confidence  to 
party.  Individuals  may  be  honest — but  gregarious  in- 
tegrity would  be  a  phenomenon  in  politics.  It  is  the 
collisions  of  party,  not  their  visionary  virtue,  that  is  ad- 
vantageous to  a  people  who  frequently  acquire  their 
rights  not  through  the  political  puiity,  but  through  tht 
rancorous  recrimination  of  ambitic  us  factions. 


168  RISfc.    AND    FALL 

On  this  occasion,  however,  Mr.  Ponsonby's  steady. 
judicious,  and  plausible  address,  exactly  corresponded 
with  the  exigencies  of  the  Viceroy,  and  gave  a  tinge  of 
generous  concession  to  his  Grace's  accedence,  which  the 
volatile  gratitude  of  the  Irish  nation,  for  a  moment  mis- 
took for  genuine  sincerity.  Mr.  Ponsonby  sought  to  be 
considered  at  the  same  moment  as  faithful  to  his  country 
and  faithful  to  its  government — a  union  which  the  bad 
policy  of  England  had  taught  the  Irish  people  to  consider 
as  incompatible,  His  manner  and  his  speech,  however, 
had  the  effect  intended.  His  fair  and  discreet  reputation 
£ave  great  weight  to  so  gratifying  a  declaration ;  and  no 
impression  could  be  more  favourable  to  the  Duke  of 
Portland  than  that  which  he  derived  from  the  short  con- 
ciliating observations  of  Mr.  Ponsonby.  He  stated, 
"that  he  most  willingly  consented  to  the  proposed 
amendment,  and  would  answer  that  the  noble  Lord  who 
presided  in  the  government  of  Ireland,  wished  to  do 
every  thing  in  his  power  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  nation, 
and  he  knew  that  the  noble  Duke  would  not  lose  one 
moment  in  forwarding  this  remonstrance  of  parliament 
to  the  Throne,  and  he  would  use  his  utmost  influence  in 
obtaining  the  rights  of  Ireland,  an  object  on  which  he 

had    FIXED    HIS    HEART."* 

This  declaration  was  received  with  the  loudest  cheers 
by  a  great  majority  of  the  House ;  but  there  existed  men 
whose  wise  scepticism  still  retained  their  doubts  of  his 
Excellency's  unsophisticated  sincerity.  They  reflected 
justly,  that  the  irresistible  position  of  Ireland  alone  had 
at  length  induced  the  British  government  to  this  mag- 
nanimous declaration — past  events  had  indisputably  de- 
cided, that  whether  cabinets  of  Whigs  or  cabinets  of 
Tories  had  ruled  the  British  councils,  the  system  of  its 
government  had  remained  invariably  adverse  to  the 
rights  of  Ireland ;  high  British  supremacy  had  been  the 
principle  and  the  practice  of  ah  its  administrations  and  of 

*  Mr.  Ponsonby  soon  after  this  period  acquired  the  highest  legal  esti- 
mation, and  in  public  affairs  connected  himself  with  Mr.  Grattan,  which 
connection  has  continued  without  interruption. 

Mr.  Ponsonby  was  one  of  the  leading  and  distinguished  opponent* 
oi  Lord  Castlereagh,  on  the  question  of  the  Irish  Union,  and  always 
can'ed  a  great  and  jus?  weight  in  the  Irish  Parliament. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  109 

all  its  princes;  and  amidst  all  the  changes  ai  1  revolu- 
tions of  England,  Ireland  had  never  yet  experienced  one 
friendly  ministry. 

V.  On  this  subject  Mr.  Flood  (one  of  the  ablest  men 
that  Ireland  ever  produced)  was  this  night  silent.  He 
saw  further,  and  thought  deeper  than  any  of  his  contem- 
poraries— he  knew  the  world,  and  of  course  was  sceptical; 
As  a  popular  orator,  he  was  inferior  to  Mr.  Grattan,  but 
as  a  deliberate  senator  he  was  vastly  his  superior.  He 
knew  that  all  precedent  of  British  cabinets  gave  just 
reason  to  attribute  this  sudden  transition  of  English 
policy,  not  to  the  feelings  of  her  liberality,  but  to  the 
extent  of  her  embarrassments ;  and  that  the  Duke  of 
Poitland's  having  "  set  his  heart"  upon  obtaining  the 
rights  of  Ireland,  was  only  giving  the  gloss  of  voluntary 
merit  to  a  concession  which  was  in  fact  a  matter  of  abso- 
lute necessity,  and  without  which  his  Grace  foresaw  that 
all  British  authority  in  Ireland,  would  be  extinguished  for 
*>ver.  Mr.  Flood's  confidence,  therefore,  never  was  im- 
plicit. Mr.  Grattan,  on  the  contrary,  was  deceived  by 
his  own  zeal,  and  duped  by  his  own  honesty ;  and  his 
friend,  Lord  Charlemont,  was  too  courtly  a  nobleman  to 
Kuspect  his  Grace  of  such  consummate  insincerity.*     But 

*  The  following  Resolutions  passed  immediately  before  the  meeting 
oi  parliament,  and  being  followed  by  the  same,  or  still  stronger,  from 
every  armed  association  in  Ireland  (at  that  period  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  disciplined  men)  taught  the  Duke  of  Portland  the  total  im- 
practicability of  postponing  the  claims  of  Ireland  one  hour. 

The  first  of  these  Resolutions  were  those  of  the  Irish  Bar — a  body 
at  that  time  of  the  greatest  weight  in  point  of  talent,  respectability,  and 
patriotism — it  gave  the  tone  to  the  Resolutions  of  the  whole  Irish  nation. 

Those  Resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted,  some  in  stronger  terms, 
by  ail  the  armed  associations 

lawyer's  corps 

At  a  full  meeting  of  the  Lawyer's  Corps,  the  28th  February,  1782, 

pursuant  to  notice. 

Colonel  Edward  Westby  in  the  Chair : 

Resolved,  That  the  Members  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  the  rep- 
resentatives of,  and  derive  their  power  solely  from,  the  people ;  and  that 
a  denial  of  this  position  by  them  would  be  to  abdicate  the  representation. 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  people  of  this  country  are  now 
tailed  upon  to  declare  that  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland 
are  the  only  power  competent  to  make  laws  to  bind  this  kingdom. 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  we  do  expect  such  declaration  of  rightf 

15 


170  RISE    AND    FALL 

Mr.  Flood  even  at  that  moment  did  not  stand  alone  in 
this  ungracious  incredulity;  and  ensuing  events  haTe 
fully  confirmed  the  wisdom  of  his  scepticism.* 

from  our  representatives,  and  that  we  will  support  them  with  our  live* 
and  fortunes  in  wathjever  measures  may  be  necessary  to  render  euch 
declaration  an  effectual  security- 
Resolved,  that  the  above  resolutions  oe  printed. 
Signed  by  order, 

Samuel  Adams,  Secretary. 

M  a  Meeting  of  the  Corps  of  Dublin  Volunteers,  Friday,  1st  March, 

1782, 
His  Grace,  the  Duke  of  Leinster  in  the  chair: 
Resolved,  That  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland  only  are 
competent  to  make  laws  to  bind  the  subjects  of  this  realm,  and  that  we 
will  not  obey  or  give  operation  to  any  laws,  save  only  those  enacted  by 
the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland,  whose  rights  and  privileges, 
jointly  and  severally,  we  are  determined  to  support  with  our  lives  and 
fortunes. 

Signed  by  order, 

John  Williams,  Secretary. 
•  The  doubts  of  Mr.  Flood,  and  the  intentions  of  the  Irish  Volunteers, 
seem  to  be  fully  exemplified  in  the  following  resolutions,  passed  the  very 
day  after  this  celebrated  declaration  of  rights  had  parsed  in  parliament. 
At  a  meeting  of  the  delegates  from  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  Corps 
of  the  Volunteers  of  the  Province  of  Leinster,  at  D'VAn,  17th  April, 
1782, 

Colonel  Henry  Flood  in  the  Chair 
Resolved  unanimously.  That  we  feel  ourselves  calhd  upon  to  declare 
our  satisfaction  in  the  unanimous  sense  of  the  House  of  Commons  ex- 
pressed in  favour  of  the  rights  of  Ireland,  in  their  address  to  the  King 
yesterday,  as  amended  by  Colonel  Grattan,  and  th^t  we  will  support 
them  therein  with  our  lives  and  fortunes. 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  thanks  of  this  meeting  be  given  to 
Colonel  Grattan,  for  his  extraordinary  exertions  and  perseverance  in 
asserting  the  rights  of  Ireland. 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  the  following  thirteen  Commanders  of 
Corps  be  appointed  a  Standing  Committee  of  Delegates  from  j.is  Prov* 
ince,  to  correspond  and  commune  with  all  the  other  provL  .  *,  UomrJ* 
lees  or  Delegates  of  Ireland,  to  wit : 

Earl  of  Granard,  Colonel  Parnei  l. 

Earl  of  Aldborough,  Captain  R.  Nevj,.  . ., 

Sir  W.  Parsons,  Captain  Gorge, 

Colonel  Grattan,  Colonel  Burton 

Colonel  Talbot,  Colonel  M.  Lyons, 

Lie  it -Colonel  Lee.  Captain  Smyth 

Colonel  Flocd, 


1  Earl  oi  Granard. .  4.  Warlay,  Birlwp  oi '  Water-font 

Z.Jolm   Ball,, Esq r         5.  James  Wapper-  Tandy,  EsqT 
3.James  !■)  tzgen  //,/./:'.>,/  6.  Thomas  Gold,,  Esq? 
/.Lord  de  Blaqider&,  KB. 


P.  J.  Kenedy,  Publisher,  5  Barclay  St.NewYo:rk . 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  171 

This  speech  of  Mr.  Ponsonby's  is  the  more  remarkable, 
localise  it  was  reserved  for  the  same  Mr.  Ponsonby, 
seventeen  years  afterwards,  to  expose,  in  the  clearest  and 
most  able  language,  this  very  duplicity  of  the  same 
Duke  of  Portland ;  and  the  open  avowal  of  his  Grace  in 
seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-nine,  that  he  had  "  never" 
considered  that  this  concession  of  England,  in  1782, 
should  be  a  "final"  adjustment  between  the  two  nations, 
leaves  no  room  to  doubt  his  Grace's  mental  reservation, 
and  the  existence  of  a  diplomatic  sophistry  which  the 
Irish  Parliament,  gulled  by  their  own  credulity,  and  en- 
veloped in  a  cloud  of  gratitude  and  exultation,  were  at 
that  moment  prevented  from  suspecting. 

VI.  Mr.  Hussey  Burgh,  and  some  other  members*, 
shortly  but  zealously  supported  this  declaration  of  Irish 
independence — all  was  unanimity — not  a  symptom  of 
opposition  was  manifested :  but  on  the  close  of  the  pro- 
ceeding, a  circumstance  not  less  remarkable  than  dis- 
gusting unexpectedly  occurred. 

Mr.  John  Fitzgibbon,  whose  indigenous  hostility  to  the 
liberties  of  his  country  had  never  omitted  any  opportu- 
nity of  opposing  its  emancipation,  on  a  sadden  became 
metamorphosed — assumed  a  strange  and  novel  character, 
and  professed  himself  not  only  the  warmest  advocate  of 
Irish  freedom,  but  a  deadly  and  inveterate  foe  to  that 
very  system  of  British  usurpation,  the  practice  of  which, 
till  that  moment,  he  had  himself  been  an  undeviating 
and  virulent  supporter. 

Mr.  Fitzgibbon's  embarrassment  in  making  this  de- 
claration was  too  strong  and  too  new  in  him  to  remain 
unnoticed — the  unanimity  of  the  House  had  left  him  no 
room  for  cavil — his  former  conduct  had  left  him  no  room 
for  consistency — his  haughty  disposition  despised  neu- 
trality, and  his  overbearing  mind  revolted  from  submis- 
sion ;  his  stubborn  heart,  though  humiliated,  was  un- 
subdued. But  he  saw  that  he  was  unsupported  by  his 
friends,  and  felt  that  he  was  powerless  against  his  ene- 
.nies.  To  such  a  mind  the  conflict  was  most  dreadful — 
a  sovereign  contempt  of  public  opinion  was  his  only 

Resolved  unanimously,  That  an  officer's  guard  from  each  corps  ol 
Volunteers  in  the  city  and  county  of  Dublin,  be  mounted  at  Lord  Chan«. 
mont's  house,  in  rotation,  at  ten  o'clock  every  morning 


172  RISE    AND    FALL 

Bolace,  and  never  did  he  more  fully  require  the  aid  ol 
that  consolation. 

This  most  remarkable,  false,  and  inconsistent  of  all 
political  recantations  ever  pronounced  by  a  confirmed 
courtier,  was  delivered  in  the  tone  of  a  confirmed  patriot. 
11  No  man,"  said  Mr.  Fitzgibbon,  with  an  affected  em- 
phasis, "  can  say  that  the  Duke  of  Portland  has  power 
to  grant  us  that  redress  which  the  nation  unanimously 
demands  ;  but  as  Ireland  is  committed,  no  man,  I  trust, 
will  shrink  from  her  support,  but  go  through,  hand  and 
heart,  in  the  establishment  of  our  liberties.  As  I  was 
cautious  in  committing,  so  I  am  now  firm  in  asserting  the 
rights  of  my  country.  My  declaration,  therefore,  is,  that 
as  the  nation  has  determined  to  obtain  the  restoration  of 
her  liberty,  it  behoves  every  man  in  Ireland  to  stand 
firm."  Yet  this  was  the  Fitzgibbon  who  in  a  few  years 
trampled  on  her  liberties,  and  sold  her  constitution. 

The  effect  produced  by  this  extraordinary  speech  from 
a  man,  the  whole  tenor  of  whose  public  life  had  been  in 
hotility  to  its  principles,  neither  added  weight  to  the 
measure  nor  gained  character  for  the  speaker,  disgust 
was  the  most  prevalent  sensation,  but  had  he  been  a  less 
able  man,  contempt  would  have  been  more  prominent. 
All  further  debate  ceased,  the  Speaker  put  the  question 
on  Mr.  Grattan's  amendment ;  a  unanimous  "  aye"  burst 
from  every  quarter  of  the  house,  he  repeated  the  question, 
the  applause  was  redoubled,  a  moment  of  tumultuous 
exultation  followed,  and,  after  centuries  of  oppression, 
Ireland  at  length  declared  herself  an  independent 
nation. 

This  important  event  quickly  reached  the  impatient 
crowds  of  every  rank  of  society,  who,  without  doors, 
awaited  the  decision  of  their  parliament,  a  cry  of  joy  and 
of  exultation  spread  with  electric  rapidity  through  the 
entire  city,  its  echo  penetrated  to  the  very  interior  of  the 
house,  every  thing  gave  way  to  an  effusion  of  happiness 
and  congratulation  that  had  never  before  been  exhibited 
in  that  misgoverned  country. 

VII.  Ireland  from  that  moment  assumed  a  new  aspect, 
the  rose  majestically  from  her  ruins,  and  surveyed  the 
author  of  her  resurrection  with  admiration  and  with  gra- 
utude.     A  young  barrister,  without  professional  celebrity 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  173 

without  family  connections,  possessed  of  no  considerable 
fortune,  nor  of  any  personal  influence,  save  that  which 
talent  and  virtue  involuntarily  acquire,  leagued  with  nfl 
faction,  supported  individually  by  no  political  party,  be- 
came the  instrument  of  Providence  to  liberate  his  coun- 
try, and  in  a  single  day  achieved  what  the  most  able 
statesmen,  the  most  elevated  personages,  the  most  power- 
ful and  best  connected  parties  never  could  effect.  Aided 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  moment,  he  seized  the  oppor- 
tunity with  promptitude,  vigour  and  perseverance  ;  but 
whilst  he  raised  his  country  to  prosperity,  and  himself  to 
unexpected  fortune  and  never-fading  honour,  he  acquired 
vindictive  enemies  by  the  brilliancy  of  his  success,  and 
afterwards  fell  a  temporary  sacrifice  to  the  perseverance 
of  their  malice  and  the  dissimulations  of  their  jealousy. 

Mr.  Connolly  and  Sir  Henry  Cavendish  also,  on  this 
night,  as  ardently  supported  the  independence  of  Ireland, 
as  if  it  was  a  principle  engrafted  on  their  nature,  both 
of  them  had  put  their  signatures  to  a  "  life  and  fortune'1 
declaration,  to  uphold  the  perpetual  independence  of  their 
country,  but  it  will  appear  in  the  progress  of  Irish  affairs, 
how  little  reliance  is  to  be  placed  on  political  declarations, 
where  an  alteration  of  circumstances  or  connections  so 
frequently  operates  as  a  renunciation  of  principle.  On 
the  discussion  of  the  Union  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred, 
Sir  Henry  had  exchanged  the  Duke  of  Devonshire  for  an 
employment  in  the  treasury,  and  a  new  planet  had  arisen 
to  influence  Mr.  Connolly ;  in  that  year  both  those  gentle- 
men declaimed  as  conscientiously  against  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  Irish  nation,  as  if  they  had  never  pledged 
their  "lives  and  fortunes"  for  their  perpetual  support 
of  it. 

It  was  impossible  for  any  uninterested  observer  of  the 
character  and  composition  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  have 
conceived  that  the  apparent  unanimity  of  this  night  could 
have  arisen  from  any  one  principle  of  universal  action, 
men  were  actuated  by  various  motives  forming  a  mixed 
composition  of  patriotism  and  of  policy  ;  it  was  the  una- 
nimous firmness  of  the  people,  and  not  the  abstract  vir- 
tue of  their  delegates,  which  achieved  this  revolution,  nor 
is  it  possible  to  read  some  of  the  popular  resolutions  of 
that  day  without  feeling  admiration  at  the  happy  union  of 

15* 


174  RISE    AND    FALL 

Bpirit.  of  patriotism,  and  of  prudence,  which  characterised 
their  proceedings.* 

VIII.  When  the  intelligence  of  these  events  was  cir- 
culated through  the  nation,  the  joy  and  rejoicings  of  the 
people  were  heyond  all  description,  every  city,  town,  and 
village,  in  Ireland,  blazed  with  the  emblems  of  exultation, 
and  resounded  with  the  shouts  of  triumph,  the  Volunteers, 
however,  were  not  dazzled  by  the  sunshine  of  the  moment, 
they  became  rather  more  active  than  more  remiss  ;  much 
indeed  was  faithfnlly  promised,  but  still  every  thing  re- 
mained to  be  actually  performed,  and  it  soon  appeared, 
that  human  life  is  not  more  uncertain  in  its  duration  than 
political  faith  precarious  in  its  sincerity,  the  fair  inten- 
tions of  one  government  are  generally  called  at  least 
injudicious  by  its  successors,  political  honesty  has  often 
vegetated  in  British  Councils,  but  never  yet  did  it  survive 
to  the  period  of  maturity,  and  the  short  existence  of  the 
Duke  of  Portland's  splendid  administration  warranted  the 
cautious  suspicion  of  the  Volunteers,  and  afforded  the 
succeeding  ministry  an  opportunity  for  attempting  those 
insidious  measures  which  soon  afterwards  characterized 
anew  the  dispositions  of  the  British  Cabinet. 

The  parliament,  and  the  people,  when  the  paroxysm  of 
their  joy  had  subsided,  waited  with  some  solicitude  for 
the  King's  reply  to  the  Declaration  of  their  independenco, 
and  a  general  suspension  of  public  business  took  place 
until  its  arrival.  It  was,  however,  the  first  pause  01  con- 
fidence and  tranquillity  that  Ireland  had  experienced  since 
her  connection  with  Great  Britain ;  little  could  she  then 
foresee  that  her  new  prosperity  was  but  the  precursor  of 

*  The  following  address  of  the  Dungannon  Convention  to  the  mem- 
bers of  parliament  who  had  voted  in  the  minorities  in  1781,  and  the 
banning  of  1782,  is  extremely  illustrative  of  their  temper  and  firmness, 
and  made  a  very  deep  impression  on  the  public  mind. 
"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen, 

"  We  thank  you  for  your  noble  and  spirited,  though  hitherto  inef- 
fectual efforts  in  defence  of  the  great  constitutional  rights  of  your  coun- 
try. Go  on, go  on,  the  almost  unanimous  voice  of  your  country  is  with 
you,  and  in  a  free  country,  the  voice  of  the  people  must  prevail.  We 
Know  our  duty  to  our  Sovereign,  and  are  loyal.  We  know  our  duty  to 
ourselves,  and  are  resolved  to  be  free.  We  seek  for  our  rights,  and  no 
more  than  our  rights,  and  in  so  just  a  pursuit  we  ahould  doubt  the  being 
of  a  Providence,  ;/  we  doubted  of  success." 


OV   THE    IRISH    NATION.  174 

future  evils  and  of  scenes  as  cruel  and  as  destructive  as 
any  she  had  ever  before  experienced.  The  seeds  of  the 
Irish  Union  were  sown  by  the  very  same  event  which  had 
procured  her  independence,  so  early  as  seventeen  hundred 
and  eighty-four  that  independence  was  insidiously  assailed 
by  a  despotic  minister  under  colour  of  a  commercial  tariff 
:n  seventeen  hundred  and  eighty-nine  events  connected 
with  the  malady  of  the  Monarch  and  the  firm  adherence 
of  the  Irish  Parliaments  to  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
Beir  Apparent  determined  the  same  minister  in  the  fatal 
project  of  extinguishing  the  Irish  legislature,  and  in 
seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-eight  a  rebellion  artificially 
permitted,  to  terrify  the  country,  and  followed  by  acta 
and  scenes  of  unparalleled  corruption,  for  a  moment 
warped  away  the  minds  of  men  from  the  exercise  of  com- 
mon reason,  and  gave  power  and  pretence  to  the  British 
Cabinet  to  effect  that  extinguishment  at  a  moment  of 
national  derangement. 


176  RISE    AND   FALL 


CHAPTER    X 

Design  of  the  British  Goverment  to  recall  the  independence  of  Ireland- 
Singular  conduct  of  the  Attorney  General — His  speech — Its  powerful 
effect — Palpable  dread  of  an  Insurrection — Effect  on  England — Duke 
of  Portland's  duplicity — Attains  an  ascendency  over  Earl  Charlemont 
—Embarrassment  of  the  English  Cabinet — The  Volunteers  prepare  foi 
actual  service — Imbecility  of  England — Insidious  designs  of  the  Eng- 
lish Government — Mr.  Fox — Mr.  Pitt — Important  meeting  of  Parlia« 
ment — The  Volunteer  Regiments  occupy  the  avenues  to  the  House  of 
Commons — Designs  of  the  Duke  of  Portland — Duke  of  Portland's 
speech — Mr.  Grattan  —  Mr.  Brown  low — The  Recorder  and  Mr. 
Walshe  oppose  Mr.  Grattan's  address  —  Mr.  Flood  neutral — Mr 
Walshe — Mr.  Yelverton — The  Secretary — Division — Consequent  em- 
barrassment. 

I.  The  foundation  of  Irish  independence  had  now  been 
laid,  by  the  spirit  of  the  Parliament  and  the  unanimity  of 
the  people;  and  the  stately  structure  of  Irish  liberty 
seemed  likely  to  rise  with  solidity  and  magnificence.  The 
labourers  were  numerous  and  indefatigable ;  and  nothing 
was  to  be  dreaded  but  contrariety  in  the  plans,  or  jealousy 
among  the  architects  ;  dangers  which  are  proved  by  the 
sequel  of  her  history,  to  be  the  true  and  substantial  cause 
of  Ireland's  annexation.  It  is  demonstrated  by  facts, 
beyond  the  power  of  refutation,  that  from  the  moment  the 
British  ministry  found  it  imperatively  necessary  to  submit 
to  this  declaration  of  Irish  independence,  no  consideration 
was  paramount  in  their  councils  to  the  desire  of  counter- 
acting it.  lu  furtherance  of  that  object,  from  the  period 
of  the  Duite  of  Portland's  administration  to  that  of  Lord 
Cornwallis,  the  old  system  of  dividing  the  Irish  against 
each  other,  and  profiting  by  their  dissensions,  was  artfully 
pursued  by  the  English  Ministry,  to  re-establish  their 
own  supremacy,  and  from  that  moment  they  resolved  to 
achieve,  at  any  risk  or  price,  that  disastrous  measure, 
which,  at  one  blow,  has  prostrated  the  pride,  the  power, 
and  the  legislature  of  Ireland,  and  reduced  her  from  the 
rank  of  a  nation  to  the  level  of  a  department.     But  the 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  177 

people  had  now  no  leisure  for  suspicious  forethought,  01 
mature  reflection,  and  the  interval  between  the  declaration 
of  independence,  and  the  reply  of  his  Majesty  to  that 
declaration,  though  a  period  of  deep  anxiety,  neither 
awakened  serious  doubts,  nor  produced  implicit  confidence. 

An  adjournment  for  three  weeks  was  now  proposed  in 
the  Commons,  to  give  time  for  the  arrival  of  His 
Majesty's  Answer  to  their  Address  and  Declaration.  This 
motion,  though  it  gave  rise  to  a  conversation  rather  than 
a  debate,  produced  one  of  the  most  singular  political 
phenomenons  that  had  ever  appeared  in  the  history  of 
any  nation. 

Mr.  John  Scott,  then  Attorney  General,  afterwards 
Lord  Clonmel,  whose  despotic  conduct  had  previously 
given  rise  to  many  and  severe  animadversions,  took 
advantage  on  this  occasion  to  recant  his  former  and 
favourite  political  principle,  that  "might  constitutes 
right."  He  now  declared  his  firm  and  unqualified  ad- 
herence to  the  claims  of  Ireland,  in  terms  which,  a  week 
before,  he  would  have  prosecuted  for  as  a  seditious  libel ; 
and  tendered  his  large  fortune  towards  a  general  fund,  to 
enforce  from  Great  Britain  the  rights  of  his  country,  if 
force  should  become  necessary. 

He  said,  that,  "  he  now  felt  it  indispensable  for  him  to 
throw  offall  equivocal  and  mysterious  silence,and  declared 
as  his  unchangeable  opinion,  that  Great  Britain  never  had 
any  right  whatever  to  bind  his  country,  and  that  any  acts 
she  had  ever  done  for  that  purpose  were  decided  usur- 
pations. That  if  the  tenure  of  his  office  of  Attorney 
General  depended  upon  the  maintenance  of  doctrines  in- 
jurious to  the  rights  and  independence  of  Ireland,  it  was 
an  infamous  tenure;  and  if  the  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain  were  determined  to  lord  it  over  Ireland,  he  was  re- 
solved not  to  be  their  villain  in  executing  their  tyranny.* 

*  It  is  a  very  curious  fact,  that  Mr.  Attorney  General  Scott's  declara- 
tion of  resisting  the  usurpation  of  England  in  1782,  was  repeated  in 
1«00,  by  two  other  successive  Attorney  Generals  of  Ireland,  though 
under  different  circumstances.  Mr.  William  Saunn,  in  his  place  in  Par- 
liament, declared  that  he  considered  the  Irish  Representatives  incompe- 
tent to  exact  a  legislative  union ;  and  that  any  statutes,  made  by  a  Par- 
liament so  constituted,  would  not  be  constitutionally  binding  on  the  Irish 
people.  That  gentleman,  some  time  after,  became  Attorney  General  oi 
Ireland  himself,  and  never  afterwards  repeated  his  scepticism 


178  RISK    AND    FALL 

That  if  matters  should  proceed  to  the  extremity  to  which 
he  feared  they  were  verging,  he  should  not  he  an  insignifi- 
cant subscriber  to  the  fund  for  defending  their  common 
rights.  That  a  life  of  much  labour,  together  with  the 
blessing  of  Providence,  and  what  is  commonly  called  good 
luck,  had  given  him  a  landed  property  of  £5,000  per  year, 
and  an  office  of  great  emolument,  all  which  should 
certainly  be  devoted  to  the  service  of  his  country.  That 
it  would  be  disgraceful,  for  the  paltry  emoluments  of  an 
office  to  stand  watching  the ,  vibrations  of  the  balance, 
when  he  had  determined  to  throw  his  life  and  fortune  into 
the  scale.  I  know,"  concluded  the  Attorney  General, 
"  that  the  public  mind  is  on  fire ;  I  know  that  the  deter- 
mination of  the  people  is  to  be  free ;  and  I  adopt  their 
determination." 

A  speech  of  so  strong  and  stormy  a  nature,  never  hav- 
ing before  been  uttered  by  any  Minister  or  Law  Officer 
of  the  British  Empire,  nor  even  by  any  member  of  the 
Irish  Parliament,  created  a  sensation  which  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  describe.*  One  sentence  conveyed  a  volume 
of  information. 

"  If  matters  proceed  to  the  extremities  to  which  I  fear 
they  are  verging,"  was  a  direct  declaration  of  mistrust  in 
the  Government  he  served  ;  and  such  a  speech,  made  in 
Parliament  by  the  first  confidential  executive  Law  Officer 
of  the  Crown,  possessed  a  character  of  mystery  and  great 
importance. 

The  dread  of  an  insurrection  in  Ireland  was  thus,  in 

Mr.  Plunkett  made  the  same  declaration,  but  in  rather  stronger  terms, 
5»s  he  vouched  Cor  his  son  as  well  as  himself ;  and  soon  after  became 
Attorney  General.  Mr.  Forster,  and  numerous  able  lawyers,  some  of 
them  junior  judges,  and  many  country  magistrates,  united  in  those  senti- 
ments. 

No  Member  of  the  Irish  Parliament  opposed  the  Union  more  stren- 
uously, than  the  Author  of  this  Work,  and  he  united  with  those  gentle- 
men in  their  opinion  as  to  the  incompetence  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 

*  The  author  was  present  at  all  these  important  debates.  On  Mr 
Scott's  recantation,  the  sensation  of  the  House  was  so  striking  and  sin- 
gular, that  he  can  never  recollect  it  without  emotion.  For  a  moment, 
there  was  profound  silence,  gradually,  the  murmur  of  astonishment  was 
heard,  spreading  from  bench  to  bench,  till  one  loud  and  general  cry  of 
approbation  burst  from  every  quarter  of  the  House,  and,  in  rapid  and  con- 
trolled plauJiis,  evinced  the  enthusiasm  of  that  era.  and  the  importance 
of  that  secession. 


OF    THE    TRISH    NATION.  179 

direct  terms,  announced  by  the  King's  Attorney  General : 
and  by  his  intrepid  determination  to  risk  his  life  and 
fortune  to  support  its  objects,  he  afforded  good  reason  to 
apprehend  that  his  Majesty's  reply  was  not  likely  to  be 
such  as  would  cultivate  tranquillity,  and  left  no  doubt  that 
the  Attorney  General  foreboded  an  unwise  reluctance  in 
the  British  Cabinet,  to  a  measure  so  vital  to  the  peace, 
perhaps  to  the  integrity,  of  the  British  Empire.  This 
conduct  of  Mr.  Scott,  coupled  with  the  previous  secession 
of  Mr.  Fitzgibbon,  must  be  looked  on  as  among  the  most 
extraordinary  occurrences  of  these,  or  any  other  times  in 
Ireland. 

In  the  history  of  Nations  and  of  Parliaments,  there  is 
not  another  instance  of  two  such  men,  publicly  professing 
and  practising  the  principles  of  arbitrary  power,  being  so 
humbled,  and  reduced  to  the  abject  condescension  of  feign- 
ing a  public  virtue  they  had  theretofore  but  ridiculed,  and 
assuming  a  fictitious  patriotism,  the  result,  at  best,  of 
their  fears  or  of  their  policy. 

However,  be  the  motive  what  it  might,  that  most  un- 
precedented conduct  taught  the  British  Government  that 
they  could  no  longer  trifle  with  Ireland.  Their  power  was 
then  extinct ;  and  no  course  remained  but  that  of  instantly 
relinquishing  their  long- vaunted  supremacy,  and  surren- 
dering at  discretion  to  the  just  demands  of  a  determined 
and  potent  people :  and  the  splendid,  though  temporary 
triumph  achieved  by  Ireland,  affords  a  glorious  prece- 
dent for  oppressed  nations,  and  an  instructive  lesson  for 
arrogant  usurpation. 

II.  Immediately  on  this  unexpected  turn,  the  Duke  of 
Portland  sent  off  two  despatches  to  England  ;  one  to  the 
Cabinet  as  a  public  document,  and  the  other,  a  private 
and  confidential  note  to  Mr.  Fox.  The  latter  document 
explained  his  reasons  for  the  necessity  he  felt  of  acceding, 
without  any  appearance  of  reluctance,  to  any  demands 
which  might  at  that  moment  be  made  by  the  Irish  Par- 
liament ;  but  intimated  "  that  so  strong  a  difference  ot 
opinion  appeared  to  exist  between  some  gentlemen  ol 
weight  that  arrangements  more  favourable  to  England 
might  possibly  be  effected  through  their  controversies, 
although  he  could  not  venture  to  propose  such,  were  they 
perfectly  unanimous.     He  stated,  in  conclusion,  that  h»« 


180  RISE    AND    FALL 

would  omit  no  opportunity  of  cultivating  his  connection 
with  the  Earl  of  Charlemont,  who  appeared  entirely  dis- 
posed to  place  confidence  in  his  administration,  and  to 
give  a  proper  tone  to  the  armed  bodies  over  whom  he 
had  the  most  considerable  influence." 

So  skilfully  did  he  act  upon  these  suggestions,  that  he 
inveigled  the  good  but  feeble  Earl  Charlemont  entirely 
into  his  trammels ;  and  as  long  as  his  Grace  remained  in 
the  Irish  Government,  he  not  only  much  influenced  that 
nobleman,  but  kept  him  at  arms  length  from  some  of  the 
ablest  statesmen  of  the  country,  without  their  perceiving 
the  insidious  power  that  caused  the  separation. 

The  other  Ministers  adopted  the  same  principles,  and 
they  did  not  despair,  by  plausible  conduct,  according  to 
the  Duke  of  Portland's  policy,  to  temporize  with  all  par 
ties,  play  off  the  people  and  the  Parliament  imperceptibly 
against  each  other;  and,  by  gradually  diminishing  theii 
mutual  confidence,  bring  both  to  a  dependence  upon  the 
good  faith  of  the  British  Ministry,  and  so  indispose  the 
Irish  Parliament  from  insisting  upon  any  measures  which 
might  humble  the  pride,  or  alarm  the  interests  of  the  Bri- 
tish nation. 

III.  The  British  Cabinet  had  certainly  great  embar- 
rassments to  encounter.  They  had  the  difficult  step  to 
take  of  gratifying  the  claims  of  Ireland,  without  affecting 
the  egotism  of  Great  Britain.  But  the  relative  interests 
of  the  two  countries  being  in  many  points  fundamentally 
repugnant,  the  dilemma  of  Ministers  was  extremely  em- 
barrassing. It  was  doubly  increased  by  a  declaration  of 
rights,  and  a  positive  demand,  which  anticipated  the 
credit  of  a  spontaneous  generosity — an  advantage  which 
was  now  lost  to  them  for  ever.  Their  voluntary  favours 
would  now  be  changed  to  compulsory  grants,  the  extent 
of  which  they  could  neither  foresee  nor  control. 

While  the  British  Cabinet  and  the  Irish  Viceroy 
actively  corresponded,  the  Irish  nation  was  not  idle.  No 
relaxation  was  permitted  in  the  warlike  preparations  of 
the  Volunteer  army.  Reviews  and  discipline  were  con- 
tinued with  unintermitting  ardour  and  emulation.  Their 
artillery  was  daily  exercised  in  the  Phoenix  Park,  near 
Dublin.  Camp  equipage  was  preparing  for  actual  service, 
and  on  the  day  to  which  the  parliament  adjourned,  thi 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  181 

whoie  of  the  Volunteer  force  of  the  metropolis  waa 
under  arms,  and  fully  prepared  for  the  alternative  (which 
the  decision  of  his  Majesty's  Cabinet,  through  the  speech 
of  its  Viceroy,  might  impose  upon  the  people)  either  to 
return  to  their  homes  for  the  peaceful  enjoyment  of  their 
rights  or  instantly  to  take  the  field.  Musters  had  been 
ordered,  to  ascertain  the  probable  numbers  of  Volunteers 
ready  for  immediate  and  active  service.  The  returns  had 
increased  from  the  former  census  to  about  124,000  officers 
and  soldiers,  of  whom  upwards  of  100,000  effectives,  well 
armed  and  disciplined,  and  owning  no  superior  but  God 
and  their  country,  would,  on  the  first  sound  of  an  hostile 
trumpet,  have  rushed  with  enthusiasm  to  the  standards  of 
independence.  The  Volunteer  regiments  and  corps  were 
commanded  by  gentlemen  of  rank  and  consideration  in 
the  country,  and  disciplined  by  retired  officers  of  the 
British  army ;  the  Serjeants  being  chiefly  veteran  soldiers 
who  had  fought  in  the  American  campaigns,  and  learned 
from  their  own  defeats,  the  powers  of  a  people  determined 
to  obtain  their  freedom.  The  whole  disposable  military 
force  of  Great  Britain  was  at  that  period  inadequate  to 
combat  one  week  with  the  Volunteers  of  Ireland,  com- 
posing an  army  which  could  be  increased,  at  a  call,  by  a 
million  of  enthusiasts ;  and  which,  in  case  a  contest  had 
arisen,  would  have  also  been  liberally  recruited  by  the 
desertion  of  the  Irish  soldiers  from  the  British  army — 
and  nearly  one  third  of  that  army  was  composed  of  Irish- 
men. The  British  Navy,  too,  was  then  also  manned  by 
what  were  generally  denominated  British  tars ;  *  but  a 
large  proportion  of  whom  were  in  fact  sailors  of  Irish 
birth  and  Irish  feelings,  ready  to  shed  their  blood  in  the 
service  of  Great  Britain  whilst  she  remained  the  friend  of 
Ireland,  but  as  ready  to  seize  and  to  steer  the  British 
navy  into  Irish  ports,  if  she  declared  against  their  coun- 
try, and  thus  it  ever  will  be. 

The  safety  of  England  was  then  clearly  in  the  hands  of 

•  The  mutiny  at  the  Nore,  in  the  channel  fleet,  confirms  this  observa- 
tion. Had  the  mutineers  at  that  time  chosen  to  carry  the  British  ships 
into  an  Irish  port,  no  power  could  have  prevented  them  ;  and  had 
there  been  a  strong  insurrection  in  Ireland,  it  is  more  than  probable  the* 
would  have  delivered  one  half  of  the  English  fleet  into  the  hands  01 
their  countrymen. 

16 


182  RISE    A.\D    FALL 

Ireland,  and  one  hostile  step,  at  that  perilous  crisis  of  the 
two  nations,  must  have  terminated  their  unity,  and  of 
course  the  power  of  the  British  empire.  But  the  Cabinet 
at  length  considered  that  resistance  to  the  just  demands 
of  [reland  would  be  unavailing ;  and  that  she  was  then 
too  powerful  for  England  to  hazard  an  insurrection,  which, 
if  once  excited,  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  suppress. 

Too  cautious  to  risk  a  danger  so  imminent,  they  yielded 
to  existing  circumstances,  and  determined  to  concede ;  a 
system  of  conduct,  which  is  called  perfidy  in  private  life 
and  policy  by  Governments,  has  been  very  generally  and 
very  successfully  resorted  to  in  important  political  dilem- 
mas, and  they  adopted  the  low  and  cunning  course  of 
yielding  with  affected  candour,  and  counteracting  with 
deep  duplicity. 

IV.  The  Cabinet  reflected,  also,  that  times  and  circum- 
stances cannot  always  remain  unchanged,  and  that  the 
political  vicissitudes  to  which  every  State  is  subject 
frequently  enable  conceding  powers  to  re-assume  usur- 
pation ;  and,  when  restored  to  strength  and  vigour,  again 
to  forget  the  law  of  nations  and  of  justice,  and  explain 
away  or  deny  the  spirit  of  those  engagements  which  theii 
feebleness  had  contracted.  The  events  which  have  since 
occurred  in  Ireland,  and  the  conduct  and  equivocation  of 
the  British  Ministers  in  1799  and  1800,  proved  to  the 
world,  that  such  were  the  premeditated  and  ulterior  views 
of  the  British  Cabinet,  in  1782 ;  and  that  the  Duke  of 
Portland  was  well  aware  of  its  objects,  and  freely  lent 
himself  to  their  perpetration. 

Mr.  Fox  never  had  any  especial  predilection  for  Ireland. 
He  was  ignorant  equally  of  her  rights,*  and  her  localities  ; 
and  he  considered  her  only  as  the  segment  of  a  great 
circle,  which  he  laboured  to  encompass.  He  wielded  the 
grievances  of  Ireland  only  as  a  weapon  of  offence  against 
the  ministry.  He  was  a  great  man,  with  a  popular  am- 
bition, and  assumed  the  hereditary  title  of  Whig,  when 
its  purest  principles  had  nearly  become  obsolete.  Mr.  Pitt 
had  in  view  the  very  same  object,  to  rule ;  and  they  only 
differed  in  the  means  of  affecting  it.  The  one  wished  to 
rise  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  people ;  the  other,  to  be 

•  See  Mr.  Fox's  Letter  to  Earl  Charlemont,  April  1782.  Hardy* 
Life  oi  C  har lemon L 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  183 

elevated  upon  those  of  the  aristocracy.  But  the  ambition 
of  both  was  to  govern  the  Empire.  Their  rivalry  was  of 
party,  and  their  struggle  was  for  power ;  but  the  internal 
prosperity  of  Ireland,  as  a  distinct  abstract  consideration, 
gave  not  one  hour's  solicitude  to  either  one  or  the  othei 
of  those  celebrated  Ministers,  though  its  resources  were 
in  part  an  object  to  both. 

The  Duke  of  Portland  was  not  of  sufficient  talent  or 
weight  to  lead  the  Ministry ;  but  he  had  enough  of  both 
to  be  an  efficient  accessory.  A  man  of  plain,  fair,  undis- 
tinguished reputation,  can  effect  important  acts  of  dupli- 
city, with  less  suspicion  and  more  facility  than  more  pro- 
minent and  energetic  personages ;  and  when  the  moment 
of  development  arrives,  he  can  plead  the  honesty  of  his 
character,  and  the  error  of  his  judgment :  or,  at  the  worst, 
he  may  gain  a  great  point,  and  can  only  lose  a  narrow 
reputation. 

These  observations  may  be  interesting,  as  decidedly 
applicable  to  the  administration  of  the  Duke  of  Portland. 
His  Grace's  conduct  and  speeches  on  the  question  of  the 
Union,  in  1800,  leave  no  doubt  that  the  whole  tenor  of 
his  conduct,  in  1782,  must  have  been  a  premeditated 
tissue  of  dissimulation. 

V.  The  Irish  House  met,  pursuant  to  the  adjournment, 
on  the  27th  May  1782,  a  day  teeming  with  importance 
to  the  fate  of  Ireland  and  the  character  of  Great  Britain. 
It  is  not  easy  to  imagine  the  solicitude  and  impatience 
with  which  the  people  awaited  the  decision  of  Great 
Britain  on  its  claims. 

On  the  morning  of  that  memorable  day,  the  Volunteers 
were  under  arms  at  an  early  hour.  Their  artillery,  under 
the  orders  of  James  Napper  Tandy,  was  stationed  on  the 
quays,  and  commanded  all  the  bridges  leading  from  the 
Military  Barracks  to  the  House  of  Parliament.  The  other 
corps,  horse  and  foot,  were  posted  at  different  stations  of 
communication  in  the  city ;  while  some  regular  troops, 
formed  in  treble  files,  lined  the  streets  for  the  passage  of 
the  Lord  Lieutenant.  But  though  neither  party  knew 
what  would  be  the  result  of  that  day's  proceedings,  nor 
whether  war  or  peace  would  be  proclaimed  by  the  British 
Ministry,  not  a  symptom  of  hostile  feeling  appeared  on 
any  side.    The  Volunteers  and  the  regular  troops  saluted 


184  RISE    AND    FALL 

each  other  as  they  passed,  and  reciprocally  showed  every 
mark  of  military  courtesy.  The  strictest  order  prevailed; 
and  the  whole,  by  a  combination  most  interesting  and 
extraordinary,  formed  a  scene  to  which  history  affords 
no  parallel. 

The  Duke  of  Portland  had  not  a  very  dignified  demean- 
our, but,  unfortunately,  every  body  then  considered  him 
as  a  man  of  political  integrity.  His  time,  during  the 
recess.,  had  been  skilfully  employed,  to  gain  upon  the 
country  gentlemen  by  flattering  attention  and  courtly 
blandishment. 

His  Grace  had  learned,  from  Earl  Charlemont,  the 
character  of  Mr.  Grattan,  before  he  saw  him.  He  was 
fully  apprised  of  his  spirit  and  patriotism,  and  knew  well 
that  neither  could  be  conquered ;  but  he  conceived  that 
by  operating  on  the  moderation  and  generous  confidence 
of  that  virtuous  Irishman,  he  might  eventually  divide  the 
Parliament ;  chill  the  general  enthusiasm  of  the  people, 
and  effect  the  objects  of  the  British  Government ;  and, 
before  the  meeting  of  Parliament,  his  Grace  had  made 
great  progress  in  exciting  shades  of  difference  in  the 
opinions  of  those  who  should  have  been  unanimous.  A 
premature  gratitude,  and  credulous  confidence,  had  al- 
ready prepared  the  House  for  his  reception  ;  and  he  de- 
livered the  speech  from  the  throne,  with  a  well-affected 
honesty  of  emphasis,  and  an  imposing  appearance  of  in- 
dividual gratification. 

The  Viceroy's  speech  gave  rise  to  a  debate  of  the  very 
highest  importance,  not  only  as  affecting  the  interests 
and  feelings  of  that  day,  but  as  influencing  the  subse- 
quent events  and  destiny  of  the  Irish  nation. 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen.  It  gives  me  the  utmost 
satisfaction,  that  the  first  time  I  have  occasion  to  address 
you,  I  find  myself  enabled,  by  the  magnanimity  of  the 
King,  and  the  wisdom  of  the  Parliament  of  Great  Britain, 
to  assure  you  that  immediate  attention  has  been  paid  to 
your  representations,  and  that  the  British  Legislature 
have  concurred  in  resolution  to  remove  the  causes  of 
your  discontents  and  jealousies,  and  are  united  in  a  de- 
sire to  gratify  every  wish  expressed  in  your  late  Ad- 
dresses to  the  Throne. 

"  If  any  thing  could  add  to  the  pleasure  I  feel  in  giving 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  185 

you  those  assurances,  it  is  that  I  can  accompany  them 
with  my  congratulations  on  the  important  and  decisive 
victory  gained  by  the  fleets  of  his  Majesty  over  those  ot 
the  common  enemy  in  the  West  Indies,  and  on  the  signal 
advantage  obtained  by  his  Majesty's  arms  in  the  Island 
of  Ceylon,  and  on  the  Coast  of  Coromandel. 

fi  By  the  papers  which,  in  obedience  to  His  Majesty's 
commands,  I  have  directed  to  be  laid  before  you.  you 
will  receive  the  most  convincing  testimony  of  the  cordial 
reception  which  your  representations  have  met  with  from 
the  Legislature  of  Great  Britain  ;  but  His  Majesty,  whose 
first  and  most  anxious  wish  is  to  exercise  His  Royal  Pre 
rogative  in  such  a  manner  as  may  be  most  conducive  to 
the  welfare  of  His  faithful  subjects,  has  further  given  it 
me  in  command  to  assure  you  of  His  gracious  disposition 
to  give  His  Royal  Assent  to  Acts  to  prevent  the  sup- 
pression of  Bills  in  the  Privy  Council  of  this  Kingdom, 
and  the  alteration  of  them  any  where  ;  and  to  limit  the 
duration  of  the  Act  for  the  better  Regulation  and  Accom- 
modation of  His  Majesty's  forces  in  this  Kingdom,  to  the 
term  of  two  years. 

"  These  benevolent  intentions  of  His  Majesty,  and  the 
willingness  of  His  Parliament  of  Great  Britain  to  second 
his  gracious  purposes,  are  unaccompanied  by  any  stipu- 
lation or  condition  whatever. 

"  The  good  faith,  the  generosity,  and  the  honour  of 
this  nation,  afford  them  the  surest  pledge  of  a  correspond- 
ing dispostion,  on  your  part,  to  promote  and  perpetuate 
the  harmony,  the  stability,  and  the  glory  of  the  Empire. 

"  On  my  own  part,  I  entertain  not  the  least  doubt,  but 
that  the  same  spirit  which  urged  you  to  share  the  freedom 
of  Great  Britain,  will  confirm  you  in  your  determination 
to  share  her  fate  also,  standing  and  falling  with  the  Bri- 
tish Empire." 

Mr.  Grattan  immediately  rose.  His  unsuspecting  and 
grateful  mind,  though  congenial  to  the  honest  liberality 
of  a  patriot,  was  quite  too  conceding  and  inexperienced 
to  meet  the  ways  and  wiles  of  deceptious  statesmen, 
Misled  by  the  apparent  sincerity  of  that  speech,  and  the 
plain  and  plausible  demeanour  of  the  Duke  of  Portland, 
he  lost  sight  of  every  thing  but  confidence  and  gratitude, 
and  left  to  deeper  politicians  to  discover  the  snare  that  lay 

16* 


186  RISK    ANO    FALL 

concealed  amidst  the  soothing  and  honourable  language 
of  the  Viceroy. 

He  said, — "  That  as  Great  Britain  had  given  up  every 
claim  to  authority  over  Ireland,  he  had  not  the  least  idea 
that  she  should  be  also  bound  to  make  any  declaration  that 
she  had  formerly  usurped  that  power.  This  would  be  a 
foolish  caution,  a  dishonourable  condition.*  The  nation 
that  insists  upon  the  humiliation  of  another,  is  a  foolish 
nation  ;  and  Ireland  is  not  a  foolish  nation.  I  move  you, 
to  assure  His  Majesty  of  our  unfeigned  affection  to  His 
Royal  Person  and  Government ;  that  we  feel,  most  sen- 
sibly, the  attention  our  representations  have  received  from 
the  magnanimity  of  His  Majesty,  and  the  wisdom  of  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  ;  to  assure  His  Majesty,  that 
we  conceive  the  resolution  for  an  unqualified,  uncondi- 
tional repeal  of  the  6th  George  the  First  to  be  a  measure 
of  consummate  wisdom  and  justice,  suitable  to  the  dignit) 
and  eminence  of  both  Nations,  exalting  the  character  of 
both,  and  furnishing  a  perpetual  pledge  of  mutual  amity ; 
lo  assure  His  Majesty,  that  we  are  sensibly  affected  by 
his  virtuous  determination  to  accede  to  the  wishes  of  His 
faithful  subjects,  and  to  exercise  His  Royal  prerogative  in 
the  manner  most  conducive  to  their  welfare.  That,  gra- 
tified in  those  particulars,  we  do  assure  His  Majesty,  that 
no  constitutional  question  between  the  two  nations  will 
any  longer  exist,  to  interrupt  their  harmony ;  and  that 
Great  Britain,  as  she  approved  of  our  firmness,  may  rely 
on  our  affection  ;  and  that  we  remember,  and  do  repeat 
our  determination,  to  stand  or  fall  with  the  British  Nation." 

When  Mr.  Grattan  concluded  the  Address,  which  was 
seconded  by  Mr.  Brown  low,  a  most  animated  and  inte- 
resting, though  desultory  debate,  immediately  ensued  ;  a 
debate  too  much  connected  with  the  subsequent  transac- 
tions on  the  Union,  not  to  be  particularly  noticed  in  this 
stage  of  the  history. 

The  Recorder  of,  and  Member  for,  Dublin,  Sir  Samuel 
Bradstreet,  a  strong-minded .  public-spirited  man,  an  able 

*  This  was  a  juvenile  syllogism,  where  there  were  neither  premises 
<aor  conclusion  to  support  the  argument.  Credulity  and  wisdom  are 
nearly  incompatible.  Ireland  was  a  credulous  nation  ;  ergo,  she  could 
not  have  been  a  wise  one.  Had  Ireland  been  more  sceptical  in  1782,  ahi 
irould  have  been  less  unfortunate  L\  1800. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  187 

lawyer,  and  independent  Member  of  Parliament ;  of  a 
rough,  decisive,  firm  deportment,  was  the  first  who  ven- 
tured to  insinuate  his  dissent  from  the  Address,  and  hia 
suspicions  of  the  Duke's  sincerity.  He  entirely  objected 
to  that  sweeping  clause  of  Mr.  Grattan's  Address — "  That 
all  constitutional  questions  between  the  two  countries 
were  at  an  end."  He  stated  that  many  were  not  yet 
touched  upon, — many  that  were  vital  to  Irish  independence 
still  remained  unnoticed;  for  he  insisted  that  the  Irish 
Parliament  actually  sat  at  that  moment  under  an  English 
Statute :  and  that  the  Address,  as  moved,  was  in  some 
instances  premature — in  others  too  comprehensive — in  all, 
defective.  Subsequent  events  have  since  proved  the  sound- 
ness and  the  acuteness  of  his  judgment  and  his  foresight. 

Mr.  Flood  said  but  a  few  words,  and  they  were  rather 
insinuating  than  insisting  on  his  dissent.  He  started 
some  difficulties  on  the  subject  of  external  legislation — 
he  expressed  his  opinion,  that  matters  were  not  yet  suf- 
ficiently advanced  to  form  a  decided  judgment  upon  the 
extent  and  modifications  of  the  proposed  arrangements ; 
but  it  was  obvious  that  this  great  man  was  neither  con- 
fident nor  satisfied,  and  that  he  conceived,  that  though 
the  chief  demand  had  been  made,  and  that  grant  acceded 
to,  yet  that  it  would  require  profound  consideration,  and 
a  steady  comprehensive  system,  to  secure  the  tenure. 
He  publicly  anticipated  nothing ;  but  his  own  want  of 
faith  in  the  British  Cabinet  was  obvious  and  compre- 
hensive. 

Mr.  David  Walshe,  an  able,  pertinacious  lawyer,  cou- 
rageous and  not  conciliating,  was  a  still  more  determined 
sceptic.  He  had  a  clear  head,  a  suspicious,  perverse 
mind,  and  a  temper  that  never  would  outstretch  itself  to 
meet  pacific  objects.  He  debated  well,  but  was  too  in- 
temperate to  acquire  or  maintain  a  general  popularity. 
A  part  of  his  speech  on  this  memorable  night  is  also  of 
great  importance.  He  followed  Sir  Samuel  Bradstreet 
tin  the  point  of  external  legislation,  and  concluded  with 
these  remarkable  expressions : — 

"  I  repeat  it,  that  until  England  declares  unequivocally, 
by  an  act  of  her  own  legislature,  that  she  had  no  right, 
in  any  instance,  to  make  laws  to  bind  Ireland,  the 
nsurped  power  of  English  legislation  never  can  be  con* 


188  RISE    AND    FALL 

sidered  by  us  as  relinquished.  We  want  not  the  con- 
cessions of  England  to  restore  us  our  liberties.  If  we 
are  true  to  ourselves,  we  possess  the  fortitude,  we  possess 
the  will,  and,  thank  God,  we  possess  the  power,  to  assert 
our  rights  as  men,  and  accomplish  our  independence  as  a 
nation." 

VI.  The  gauntlet  was  now  thrown,  the  vital  question 
was  started — England  was  put  on  her  defence,  and 
Ireland  on  her  trial. 

The  great  point  of  confirming  the  Irish  independence 
and  constitution  being  once  started,  never  could  be  re- 
linguished  ;  it  must  be  decided — the  suspicion  of  English 
sincerity  once  raised,  must  be  satisfied ;  and  it  appeared 
in  a  moment,  that  Mr.  Grattan's  address  could  never  be 
considered  either  secure  or  conclusive.  But  even  those 
who  thought  so,  did  not  conceive  that  the  moment  had 
as  yet  arrived  when  that  subject  should  be  so  warmly 
discussed. 

Those  who  feared  that  a  difference  at  so  early  a  period 
might  defeat  all  their  expectations,  chose  rather  to  accede 
to  an  address  they  did  not  approve  of,  than  hazard  a  dis- 
union which  might  never  be  remedied. 

Mr.  Yelverton  strongly  recommended  unanimity  at  that 
moment.  It  seemed,  for  prudential  reasons,  to  be  the 
general  wish ;  and  Mr.  Walshe  had  withdrawn  his  oppo- 
sition— when  Mr.  Fitzpatrick,  the  Viceroy's  secretary 
artfully  seized  on  the  moment  of  inconsiderate  gratitude, 
and  threw  out  a  defiance  to  those  who  endeavoured  tj 
diminish  its  unanimity.  This  to  such  a  temper  as  Mr. 
Walshe's,  had  the  effect  intended,  of  causing  a  division — 
and  the  skilful  secretary  succeeded  in  his  object. 

On  the  division,  the  Recorder  and  Mr.  Walshe  alone 
divided  on  the  minority,  and  Mr.  Grattan's  address  was 
triumphantly  carried,  with  all  its  imperfections ;  and  a 
short  period  proved  that  these  imperfections  were  neither 
few  nor  unimportant.  The  House  adjourned  amidst  the 
universal  acclamations  of  the  ignorant  and  credulous 
people  ;  and  the  constitutional  arrangements  between  the 
two  countries  were  fatally  supposed,  from  the  tenor  of 
the  speech  and  the  address,  to  have  been  entirely  and 
for  ever  arranged  to  their  mutual  satisfaction. 

It  is  here  proper  to  pause  and  reflect  upon  the  em- 


OP   THE    IRISH    NATION.  189 

barrassing  situation  into  which  this  day's  debate  had 
thrown  both  nations  ;  an  embarrassment  which,  since 
that  day,  has  never  yet  completely  terminated,  and  pro- 
bably never  will. 

The  transcendent  merits  of  Mr.  Grattan,  the  unparal- 
leled brilliancy  of  his  language,  in  moving  the  declara- 
tion of  rights,  his  firmness  and  his  patriotism,  had  raised 
him  above  all  his  countrymen.  That  declaration,  it  was 
believed,  had  restored  the  liberties  of  his  country,  and 
given  him  a  just  claim  to  all  the  rewards  and  honours 
which  even  the  glowing  gratitude  of  that  country  could 
confer  upon  him.  But,  unfortunately,  his  own  honesty 
ied  him  to  a  mistaken  confidence  in  that  of  others.  The 
courtly  patriotism  of  Earl  Charlemont,  always  inclining 
him  to  a  blind  principle  of  conciliation,  had  its  influence 
on  Mr.  Grattan,  who  was  a  statesman,  great  in  principle, 
but  inefficient  in  detail  i  and  the  moderation  of  Lord 
Charlemont  was  not  ineffective  nor  merely  passive,  when 
restraining  the  vigour  of  a  mind,  that  seemed  to  be 
created  to  think  greatly  and  act  decidedly,  only  upon 
gieat  and  decisive  occasions. 


190  RISE    AND   FALL 


CHAPTER    XI. 

TBmi>orary  credulity  of  the  Irish  Parliament — Country  Gentlemen 
Singular  character  of  Mr.  Bagenal — His  Exploits — Popularity— Hie 
jatriotism — Commanded  many  Volunteer  Corps — Gives  notice  of  a 
motion  to  reward  Mr.  Grattan  —  Anti- prophetic  observation  —  Mr 
Grattan's  increasing  popularity — Hasty  repeal  of  the  declaratory  act 
6th  Geo.  III. — And  transmitted  by  the  Viceroy  to  the  Volunteers — 
Doctrine  of  Blackstone  declared  unconstitutional — Mr.  Bagenal's  motion 
to  grant  <£  100,000,  to  Mr.  Grattan — Mistaken  pride  of  his  friends — 
Extraordinary  occurrence — Insidious  conduct  of  Government — Mr 
Thomas  Connolly  makes  a  most  unprecedented  motion — Viceroy  offer! 
the  Palace  to  Mr.  Grattan  and  his  heirs  as  a  reward  for  his  services  — 
Objects  of  the  Government  in  making  the  offer — Discovered  by  th€ 
indiscretion  of  the  Secretary,  Col.  Fitzpatrick — His  character— Real 
objects  developed — Mr.  Grattan's  friends  decline  so  large  a  grant — 
Their  mistaken  principle — Effects  of  the  calumnies  against  Ireland- 
False  arguments — Comparison  of  the  conduct  of  England  and  Ire- 
land— Comparative  loyalty 

I.  It  is  as  extraordinary  as  it  is  true,  that  the  weaknesses 
and  foibles  of  Irish  character  were  more  strikingly  dis- 
played dnring  this  important  discussion,  than  upon  any 
former  occasion.  A  generous,  ardent,  credulous,  un- 
statesman-like  sensibility,  appeared  to  have  seized  upon 
the  whole  assembly;  and  even  the  natural  quickness  of 
perception,  and  acuteness  of  intellect,  which  the  members 
of  that  House  displayed  on  ordinary  and  trivial  subjects, 
seemed  totally  to  have  forsaken  them  during  this  me- 
morable debate — of  more  vital  importance  to  the  nation 
than  any  other  that  had  ever  taken  place  in  the  Irish 
Parliament. 

II.  The  country  gentlemen  of  Ireland,  at  all  times  bad 
casuists  and  worse  lawyers,  appeared  on  this  occasion  to 
close  both  their  ears  and  eyes,  and  to  resign,  with  one 
accord,  all  exercise  of  judgment  and  discrimination.  The 
word  "  unanimity"  operated  as  a  talisman  amonst  them, 
and  silenced  all  objections.  The  very  important  observa- 
tions of  Sir  Samuel  Bradstreet  and  of  Mr.  Walshe  were 
hardly  listened  to  with  patience.  Mr.  Flood  himscL 
seemed  to  be  overwhelmed  and  manacled  ;    and  those 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  191 

axioms  and  that  reasoning  which  were  ultimately  acceded 
to  and  adopted  even  by  the  British  Ministers  themselves, 
were  on  this  night  considered  as  a  species  of  treason 
against  the  purity  of  the  British  Government,  and  the 
sincerity  of  the  Irish  Viceroy.  No  voice  but  that  of  con- 
gratulation, joy,  and  confidence,  could  make  itself  heard. 
No  suspicions  durst  be  suggested — no  murmurs  durst  be 
uttered.  The  scene  was  new  to  Ireland ;  and  exulta- 
tion took  precedence  for  a  time  of  both  reason  and  re- 
flection. 

Beauchamp  Bagenal,  representative  for  Carlow  county, 
so  soon  as  the  flurry  of  mutual  congratulations  had  a 
ttle  subsided  in  the  House,  proposed  a  measure  well 
adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  that  moment,  and  most 
happily  coincident  with  the  sentiments  of  the  people. 
How  far  it  had  been  premeditated,  or  arose  from  the 
impulse  of  the  moment,  no  person  acquainted  with  the 
character  and  eccentricities  of  Mr.  Bagenal  could  possibly 
determine. 

He  was  one  of  those  persons,  who,  born  to  a  large 
inheritance,  and  having  no  profession  to  interrupt  then 
propensities,  generally  made  in  those  times  the  grand 
tour  of  Europe,  as  the  finishing  part  of  a  gentleman's 
education.  Mr.  Bagenal  followed  the  general  course ; 
and  on  that  tour  had  made  himself  veiy  conspicuous. 
He  had  visited  every  capital  of  Europe,  and  had  ex- 
hibited the  native  original  character  of  the  Irish  gentle- 
man at  every  place  he  visited.  In  the  splendour  of  his 
travelling  establishment,  he  quite  eclipsed  the  petty  poten- 
tates with  whom  Germany  was  garnished.  His  person 
was  fine — his  manners  open  and  generous — his  spiiit 
high,  and  his  liberality  profuse.  During  his  tour,  he  had 
performed  a  variety  of  feats  which  were  emblazoned  in 
Ireland,  and  endeared  him  to  his  countrymen.  He  had 
fought  a  prince — jilted  a  princess — intoxicated  the  Doge 
of  Venice — carried  off  a  Duchess  from  Madrid — scaled 
the  walls  of  a  convent  in  Italy — narrowly  escaped  the. 
Inquisition  at  Lisbon — concluded  his  exploits  by  a  cele- 
brated fencing  match  at  Paris  ;  and  he  returned  to  Ireland 
with  a  sovereign  contempt  for  all  continental  men  and 
manners,  and  an  inveterate  antipathy  to  all  despotic  kings 
and  arbitrary  governments. 


192  RISE    AND    FALL 

Domesticated  in  his  own  mansion  at  Dunleckny — sur» 
rounded  by  a  numerous  and  devoted  tenantry — and  pos- 
sessed of  a  great  territory,  Mr.  Bagenal  determined  to 
spend  the  residue  of  his  days  on  his  native  soil,  according 
to  the  usages  and  customs  of  country  gentlemen ;  and 
he  was  shortly  afterwards  returned  a  representative  to 
Parliament  for  the  county  of  Carlow,  by  universal  accla- 
mation. 

Though  Mr.  Bagenal  did  not  take  any  active  part  in 
the  general  business  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  he  at  least 
gave  it  a  good  example  of  public  spirit  and  high-minded 
independence.  His  natural  talents  were  far  above  medi 
ocrity  ;  but  his  singularities,  in  themselves  extravagant, 
were  increased  by  the  intemperance  of  those  times ;  and 
an  excellent  capacity  was  neutralized  by  inordinate  dis- 
sipation. Prodigally  hospitable,  irregular,  extravagant, 
uncertain,  vivacious ;  the  chase,  the  turf,  the  sod,  and  the 
bottle,  divided  a  great  portion  of  his  intellects  between 
them,  and  generally  left  for  the  use  of  Parliament,  only  so 
much  as  he  could  spare  from  his  other  occupations. 

However,  in  supporting  the  independence  and  prospe- 
rity of  Ireland,  he  always  stood  in  the  foremost  ranks. 

Liberal  and  friendly,  but  obstinate  and  refractory,  above 
all  his  contemporaries,  he  had  a  perfect  indifference  ior 
the  opinions  of  the  world,  when  they  at  all  differed  from 
his  own ;  and  he  never  failed  to  perform  whatever  came 
uppermost  in  his  thoughts,  with  the  most  perfect  con- 
tempt as  to  the  notions  which  might  be  formed  either  ol 
his  rectitude  or  impropriety. 

He  was  one  of  the  first  country  gentlemen  who  raised 
a  volunteer  regiment  in  the  county  Carlow.  He  com- 
manded several  military  corps,  and  was  one  of  the  last 
Volunteer  Colonels  in  Ireland  who  could  be  prevailed 
upon  to  discontinue  the  reviews  of  their  regiments,  or  to 
relinquish  that  noble,  patriotic,  and  unprecedented  insti- 
tution. However,  he  was,  on  this  occasion,  as  politically 
short-sighted  as  he  was  nationally  credulous.  He  coula 
see  nothing  but  sincerity  in  the  Viceroy,  honour  in  the 
British  Cabinet,  and  an  eternal  cordiality  between  the 
two  nations :  and  before  the  constitutional  arrangement 
was  well  begun,  he  fancied  it  was  completely  concluded 
His  admiration  of  Mr.  Grattan  was  unqualified  and  ex 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  193 

tiavagant;  and  it  was  with  an  honest  zeal  and  pure  sin- 
cerity he  rose  to  propose  a  measure,  at  that  period  the 
most  popular  and  gratifying  to  the  Irish  nation. 

III.  Having  passed  many  eulogiums  on  Mr.  Grattan's 
services  to  Ireland,  he  gave  notice  of  an  intended  motion, 
"  that  a  Committee  should  be  appointed,  to  consider  and 
report  what  sum  the  Irish  Parliament  should  grant,  to 
build  a  suitable  mansion  and  purchase  an  estate  for  their 
great  deliverer." 

in  prefacing  this  notice,  Mr.  Bagenal,  full  of  candour 
and  credulity,  used  some  expressions,  so  unfortunately 
anti-prophetic,  as  to  render  them  worthy  of  marked  ob- 
servation. He  said,  that  Mr.  Grattan  had  saved  the 
country  from  an  iron  age,  and  unequivocally  restored  a 
golden  one  to  his  own  country  for  ever.  "  By  our  affec- 
tionate alliance  with  Great  Britain,  we  shall  not  only  be 
benefitted  ourselves,  but  shall  see  a  beloved  sister  revive 
from  her  misfortunes.  This  great  man  has  crowned  the 
work  for  ever ;  under  his  auspices  the  throne  of  freedom 
is  fixed  on  a  basis  so  firm,  and  which  will  always  be  so 
well  supported  by  the  influence  the  people  must  acquire 
under  his  system,  that,  with  the  help  of  God,  there  is  no 
ianger,  even  of  Parliament  itself  ever  being  able  to  shake 
it;  nor  shall  any  Parliament  be  ever  again  profanely 
ityled  omnipotent." 

Mr.  Grattan  attempted  to  make  some  observations,  but 
his  voice  was  drowned  in  the  general  applause ;  and  the 
house  adjourned  without  further  observations. 

IV.  He  alone  now  occupied  the  entire  hearts  of  the 
people. 

They  had  no  room  for  any  other  individual.  Almost 
frantic  with  gratitude  to  their  deliverer,  they  cried  out, 
that  the  doctrines  of  Molyneux  had  triumphed  in  the  same 
place  where  they  had  before  been  consigned  to  infamy. 
But  the  day  of  those  pure  and  lofty  feelings  has  passed 
away.  A  broken  down  constitution  seldom  recovers  its 
pristine  elasticity ;  and  that  enthusiastic,  proud,  patriotic 
spirit  which  signalized  the  Irish  nation  in  1782,  driven  to 
its  tomb  by  misrule  and  by  misfortune,  can  never  rise 
again  but  on  some  congenial  crisis. 

V.  The  British  Ministry  and  Parliament  now  b°gan  to 
feel  their  own  weakness.     Their  intolerance  degenerated 

17 


194  RISE    AND    FALL 

into  fear ;  and  responsibility  began  to  stare  them  in  thtf 
face.  The  loss  of  America  had  been  got  over  by  theii 
predecessors  without  an  impeachment ;  but  that  of  Ireland 
would  not  have  passed  over  with  the  same  impunity.  The 
British  Cabinet  had  already  signed  the  capitulation,  and 
thought  it  impossible  to  carry  it  too  soon  into  execution. 
Bills  to  enact  the  concessions  demanded  by  Ireland  were 
therefore  prepared  with  an  expedition  nearly  bordering 
on  precipitancy.  The  6th  of  George  the  First,  declara- 
tory of,  and  establishing  the  supremacy  of  England,  and 
the  eternal  dependence  of  Ireland  on  the  Parliament  and 
Cabinet  of  Great  Britain,  was  now  hastily  repealed,  with- 
out debate,  or  any  qualification  by  the  British  Legislature. 
This  repeal  received  the  royal  assent,  and  a  copy  was  in- 
stantly transmitted  to  the  Irish  Viceroy,  and  communica- 
ted by  circulars  to  the  Volunteer  commanders. 

Chap.  LIII.  An  Act,  to  repeal  an  Act  made  in  the 
sixth  year  of  the  reign  of  His  late  Majesty  King  George 
the  First,  intituled,  An  Act  for  the  better  securing  the 
dependency  of  the  kingdom  of  Ireland  upon  the  crown 
of  Great  Britain. 

Whereas,  an  act  was  passed  in  the  sixth  year  of  the  reign 
of  His  late  Majesty  King  George  the  First,  intituled :  An 
Act  for  the  better  securing  the  dependency  of  the  king- 
dom of  Ireland  upon  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  ;  may  it 
please  your  Most  Excellent  Majesty,  that  it  may  be 
enacted,  and  be  it  enaeted,  by  the  King's  Most  Excellent 
Majesty,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  lords 
ipiritual  and  temporal,  and  commons,  in  this  present  par- 
liament assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that 
from  and  after  the  passing  of  this  Act,  the  above  mentioned 
Act,  and  the  several  matters  and  things  therein  con- 
tained, shall  be,  and  is,  and  are  hereby  repealed. 

Thus,  the  doctrine  of  Blackstone,  that  venerated  Druid 
of  English  jurisprudence,  who  by  his  dictum  had  tried  to 
seal  the  slavery  of  the  Irish  people,  was  surrendered  as 
unconstitutional,  and  renounced  by  the  very  same  legisla- 
ture that  had  enacted  it.  As  England  drooped,  Ireland 
raised  her  head  ;  and  for  a  moment  she  was  arrayed  wHh 
all  the  exterior  insignia  of  an  independent  nation. 

VI.  On  the  30th  of  May,  1782,  Mr.  Bagenal  resumed 
the  subject  of  the  reward  to  Mr.  Grattan ;  and  after  a 


OF    THE    IRISH     NA'l  ION.  19| 

short,  but  animated  speech,  moved  that  "  £100,000  should 
be  granted  by  parliament,  to  purchase  an  estate,  and  build 
a  suitable  mansion,  as  the  reward  of  gratitude  by  the  Irish 
nation,  for  his  eminent  services  to  his  country."  No  mem- 
ber could  directly  oppose  a  measure  so  merited,  so  popu- 
lar, and  so  honourable  to  the  nation.  No  absolute  mur- 
mur was  heard ;  but  the  magnitude  of  the  sum  gave  rise 
to  many  incidental  observations  ;  and  some  friends  of  Mr. 
Grattan  endeavoured  to  impress  the  house  with  the  idea 
that  he  was  altogether  adverse  to  the  measure,  and 
conceived  that  his  honours  and  gratification  would  be 
greater  by  the  feeling  of  having  served  his  country  with- 
out other  reward  than  that  arising  from  its  pure  and  un- 
sophisticated enjoyment. 

This  idea  in  modern  times,  and  under  Mr.  Grattan's 
peculiar  circumstances,  was  considered  less  the  result  of 
a  true  pride  than  of  a  patriotic  vanity.  Roman  prece- 
dents were  not  applicable  to  Ireland ,  and  his  paternal 
estates  were  not  sufficiently  ample  to  support  so  distin- 
guished a  man  in  the  dignity  of  his  station.  And  the 
wisest  friends  of  Mr.  Grattan  considered  such  a  grant 
not  as  a  mercenary  recompense,  but  the  reward  of  patri- 
otic virtue,  conferred  by  the  gratitude  of  a  nation  to 
elevate  a  deliverer. 

VII.  While  the  House  seemed  to  hesitate  as  to  the 
wisest  course  of  carrying  the  proposed  grant  into  imme- 
diate execution,  a  most  unexpected  circumstance  took 
place,  which,  though  in  its  results  of  no  important  conse- 
quence, forms  one  of  the  most  interesting  anecdotes  of 
Irish  events,  developes  the  insidious  artifices  to  which  the 
Government  resorted,  and  forms  an  episode  without  a 
precedent  in  ancient  or  modern  annals. 

Mr.  Thomas  Connolly,who,  as  a  leading  member  of  the 
Whig  party,  had  entirely  connected  himself  with  the 
Duke  of  Portland ;  and  though  not  holding  any  ministerial 
office,  was  a  Privy  Councillor,  and  considered  to  be  par- 
ticularly confidential  in  the  councils  of  the  Viceroy,  after 
many  eulogiums  upon  Mr.  Grattan's  unparalleled  services 
to  Ireland,  stated,  "  That  the  Duke  of  Portland  felt 
equally  with  the  Irish  people,  the  high  value  of  those 
services ;  and  that  he  was  authorized  by  the  Lord  Lieu- 
tenant to  express,  in  the  strongest  terms,  the  sense  he  eo- 


196  RISE    AND    FALL 

tertained  of  the  public  virtue  of  Mr.  Granan,  and  of  hii 
eminent  and  mportant  services  to  Ireland :  and  as  the 
highest  proof  he  could  give  of  his  admiration  and  respect 
for  that  distinguished  personage,  he  (the  Lord  Lieutenant) 
begged  to  offer,  as  a  part  of  the  intended  grant  to  Mr. 
Grattan,  the  Viceregal  Palace  in  the  Phoenix  Park>  to 
be  settled  on  Mr.  Grattan  and  his  heirs  for  ever,  as  a 
suitable  residence  for  so  meritorious  a  person." 

VIII.  The  Viceroy  of  His  Britannic  Majesty,  offering 
to  a  private  individual  a  grant  for  ever  of  the  King's  best 
palace  in  Ireland,  was  repugnant  to  the  principle  of 
Monarchical  Governments ;  while  Mr.  BagenaPs  proposal 
of  a  grant  by  the  House  of  Commons,  as  a  reward  for 
the  "public  services  of  one  of  their  own  independent  mem- 
bers, appeared  to  the  Viceroy  as  making  the  people  every 
thing  and  the  administration  nothing.  He  saw  clearly, 
that  the  public  spirit  was  irresistible,  and  that  the  grant 
must,  pass ;  and  the  Viceroy  determined,  at  any  sacrifice, 
to  give  it  a  tinge  of  ministerial  generosity,  and  thereby 
deaden,  as  much  as  possible,  the  brilliancy  and  effect  of 
a  popular  proceeding.  He  knew  that  if  his  proposal 
through  Mr.  Connolly  should  be  accepted,  the  grant  would 
have  very  considerably  changed  its  democratic  complex- 
ion, the  prerogative  would  be  somewhat  preserved,  and 
Mr.  Grattan  no  longer  considered  as  deriving  his  reward 
exclusively  from  the  gratitude  of  his  countrymen :  the 
Crown  would  have  its  share  in  a  claim  to  his  acknow- 
ledgements ;  and  thus  the  merit  of  the  favour  be  divided 
between  the  people  and  the  minister. 

This  magnificent  and  unexampled  offer,  at  first  view, 
appeared  flattering  and  showy  ;  at  the  second,  it  appeared 
deceptious  ;  and  at  the  third,  inadmissible.  Delicacy  pre- 
vented any  debate  on  the  subject;  and  it  would  have 
died  away  without  remark  or  observation,  and  have  been 
rejected  by  a  judicious  silence,  had  not  the  indiscretion 
of  Colonel  Fitzpatrick  betrayed  the  whole  feeling  and 
duplicity  of  the  Government,  and  opened  the  eyes  of 
many  to  the  jealousy  and  designs  of  His  Grace's  admin- 
istration. Though  the  secretary  was  extremely  disposed 
to  serve  Mr.  Grattan  individually,  the  entire  failure  of 
the  plan,  and  the  frigid  manner  in  which  the  royal  offer 
had  been  received  on  every  side,  hurt  his  official  pride, 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  19? 

and  affected  him  extremely.  He  recollected  his  ministry 
but  forgot  his  discretion ;  and  he  could  no  longer  restrain 
himself  from  some  observations  equally  ill-timed  and 
injudicious. 

Colonel  Fitzpatrick  was  the  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Upper 
Ossory.  Though  not  an  expert  diplomatist,  he  was  well 
selected  to  make  his  way  amongst  the  Irish  gentry,  and 
consequently  carry  into  effect  the  objects  of  the  British 
ministers,  and  the  deceptions  of  the  Duke  of  Portland. 
He  was  ingenuous  and  convivial ;  friendly  and  familiar  ; 
aiid  theoretically  honest,  even  in  politics.  His  name  was 
musical  to  the  ear  of  that  short-sighted  community  (the 
Irish  gentry),  and  his  casual  indiscretions  in  Parliament 
were  kindly  attributed  to  his  undesigning  nature  ;  and 
of  all  qualities,  an  appearance  of  unguarded  openness  is 
most  imposing  upon  the  Irish  people.  But  the  office  of 
a  minister  or  of  a  secretary  is  too  well  adapted  to  alter, 
if  not  the  nature,  at  least  the  habits  of  a  private  gentle- 
man ;  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  he  relinquishes  his  can- 
dour when  he  commences  his  diplomacy. 

Whatever  his  individual  feelings  might  have  been  as 
Colonel  Fitzpatrick,  it  is  impossible  that  in  his  capacity 
of  secretary,  Mr.  Bagenal's  motion  could  have  given  him 
any  gratification.  He  declared,  that  "  he  conceived  the 
power  of  rewarding  eminent  men  was  one  of  the  noblest 
of  the  Royal  Prerogatives,  which  were  certainly  a  part 
of  the  constitution.  He  did  not  wish  to  be  considered 
as  giving  a  sullen  acquiescence,  but  he  conceived  that 
marks  of  favour  of  this  nature  always  appertained  to  the 
Crown  alone,  and  he  should  have  wished  that  this  grant 
had  come  from  the  Royal  hand ;  but,  as  the  man  was  un- 
precedented, so  was  the  grant ;  and  he  hoped  this  would 
not  be  considered  as  a  precedent  on  future  occasions." 

IX.  By  these  few,  but  comprehensive  observations  ot 
the  Secretary,  the  apparently  magnificent  liberality  of  the 
Viceroy  appeared  in  its  real  character,  and  dwindled  into 
a  narrow  subterfuge  of  ministerial  jealousy.  Mr.  Con- 
nolly appeared  to  have  travelled  out  of  his  station,  and 
officiously  to  have  assumed  the  office  of  a  minister,  for  a 
deceptive  purpose,  and  lent  himself  to  a  little  artifice,  to 
trepan  the  Parliament  and  humiliate  the  people. 

By  this  rejected  tender  the  Whig  administration  gained 
17* 


198  RISE    AND    FALL 

no  credit ;  they  evinced  a  disposition  to  humble  the  Crown 
without  elevating  the  people,  and  to  wind  the  laurels  of 
both  around  their  own  temples. 

The  Viceroy  considered  a  grant  by  the  Commons  too 
democratic  ;  and  the  Parliament  considered  the  Viceroy^ 
tender  too  ministerial.  Mr.  Grattan  was  a  servant  of  the 
Irish  people,  and  was  utterly  unconnected  with  the  British 
Government.  In  every  point  of  view,  therefore,  the  Vice- 
roy's offer,  at  that  moment,  was  improper,  and  derogatoiFy 
alike  to  the  Crown  and  the  individual.  The  Viceroy  of 
Ireland  proposing,  on  behalf  of  the  King  of  England,  to 
Ireland's  great  patriot  to  reward  his  services  for  having 
emancipated  his  country  from  the  domination  of  Great 
Britain,  was  an  incident  as  extraordinary  as  had  ever 
occurred  in  any  government,  and,  emanating  from  that 
of  England,  told,  in  a  single  sentence,  the  whole  history 
of  her  terrors,  her  jealousy,  her  shallow  artifice  and 
humbled  arrogance. 

This  proposal  was  linked  with  many  other  insidious 
objects,  but  they  were  too  obvious  to  be  successful,  and 
only  disclosed  that  shallow  cunning.  His  Excellency 
had  perceived  in  Ireland  the  phenomena  of  a  governing 
people,  without  a  ruling  democracy,- — an  armed  and  un- 
restrained population,  possessing,  without  abusing,  the 
powers  of  Sovereignty,  and  turning  their  authority,  not  to 
the  purposes  of  turbulence  or  sedition,  but  to  those  of  Con- 
stitution, order,  and  tranquillity.  These  armed  Associa- 
tions, however  irreproachable  in  their  conduct,  were  un- 
precedented in  their  formation,  and  were  fairly  considered 
oy  His  Grace  with  a  lively  jealousy,  as  tending  to  esta- 
blish a  species  of  popular  aristocracy,  dangerous  to  the 
very  nature  of  the  British  Constitution. 

X.  Many  friends  of  Mr.  Grattan,  or  those  who  pro- 
fessed to  be  so,  declared  he  would  not  accept  of  so  large 
a  sum  as  that  proposed  by  Mr.  Bagenal ;  but  this  was  a 
mistaken,  or  an  affected  view  of  that  subject.  In  fact  the 
grant  itself,  not  its  amount,  was  the  only  point  foi  digni- 
fred  consideration.  However,  after  a  considerable  dis- 
cussion, it  was  diminished,  by  Mr.  Grattan's  friends,  to 
the  sum  of  fifty  thousand  pounds,  which  was  unani- 
mously voted  to  him ;  and  never  had  a  reward,  more 
merited  or  more  honourable,  been  conferred  on  any  pat- 
riot by  any  nation. 


OF    THft    IrtlSH     NATION.  199 

The  times  when  civic  crowns  conferred  honours  no 
longer  existed ;  property  had  become  essential  for  impor- 
tance in  society.  The  Irish  Parliament  had  before  them 
a  sad  and  recent  example  of  the  necessity  of  such  a  re- 
ward, in  the  fate  of  Dr.  Lucas,  one  of  the  best  friends  of 
Ireland,  who  had  sacrificed  himself  to  support  his  prin- 
ciples :  a  man  who  had,  so  fa*-  as  his  talents  admitted, 
propagated  and  applied  the  doctrines  of  the  great  Moly- 
neux  ;  and,  like  him,  was  banished,  and,  like  him,  de 
ciared  a  traitor  ;  who  had  sat  a  Representative  for  the. 
metropolis  of  Ireland ;  and  whose  statue  still  adorns  the 
Royal  Exchange  of  Dublin  :  a  venerable  Senator,  sink- 
ing under  the  pressure  of  years  and  of  infirmity,  carried 
into  their  House  to  support  its  liberties, — sickening  in 
their  cause  and  expiring  in  their  service  ;  a  rare  example 
of  patriotism  and  independence  ;  yet  suffered  to  die  in 
indigence,  and  leave  an  orphan  offspring  to  become  the 
prey  of  famine.  With  such  a  reproachful  warning  before 
the  nation,  it  was  for  the  people,  not  for  the  Crown,  to 
take  care  that  they  never  should  be  again  disgraced  by 
similar  ingratitude.  In  these  degenerate  times,  honours 
give  no  sustenance ;  and  in  the  perverted  practices  of 
modern  policy,  it  is  not  the  province  of  the  Monarch  to 
reward  the  patriot.  And  this  event  leads  the  historian  tx 
others  still  more  important. 

Upon  every  important  debate  on  the  claims  of  Ireland 
in  the  British  and  Imperial  Parliaments,  the  native  cha- 
racter and  political  propensities  of  the  Irish  people  had 
been  uniformly  made  a  subject  of  animated  discussion  ; 
and  the  loyalty  of  that  Nation  to  her  Kings  had  been  put 
directly  in  issue,  by  both  her  friends  and  her  enemies ; 
by  the  latter,  as  a  pretext  for  having  abrogated  her  Con- 
stitution :  by  the  former,  as  a  defence  against  libel  and 
exaggeration ;  each  party  asserting,  that  the  past  events 
of  Irish  history  justify  their  reasoning,  and  afford  evi- 
dence of  their  respective  allegations. 

XI.  It  is,  therefore,  at  this  important  epoch  highly  ex- 
pedient that  this  controversy  of  opinions,  as  to  the  loyalty 
of  the  Irish  people,  though  probably  digressive,  should 
be  decided  by  unequivocal  historic  matters  of  fact,  unde- 
niable by  either  party  ;  and  thereby,  that  the  true  princi- 
les  of  a  long  persecuted  and  calumniated  .people,  should 

no  lons-e,r  mistaken  nor  misrepjjesented 


800  RISE    AND    FALL 

A  reference  to  the  authentic  Annals  and  Records  of 
Irish  History,  indisputably  proves  that  the  unrelenting 
cruelties  and  misrule  of  their  British  Governors  in  early 
ages,  goading  the  wretched  natives  to  insurrection,  formed 
the  first  pretext  for  afterwards  branding  them  with  sn 
imputation  of  indigenous  disloyalty,  thereby  exciting  an 
inveterate  prejudice  against  the  Irish  people  ;  which,  be- 
coming hereditary,  has  descended,  though  with  dimin- 
ished virulence,  from  father  to  son  throughout  the  Eng- 
lish nation. 

These  calumnies  had  their  full  and  fatal  operation,  ah 
an  argument  in  urging  the  necessity  of  a  Legislative 
Union ;  an  argument  at  once  refuted  by  reference  even 
to  the  modern  events  of  1782,  and  to  the  unexampled 
moderation,  forbearance,  and  loyalty  of  the  Irish  nation, 
who  sought  only  a  full  participation  in  the  British  Con- 
stitution, though  the  moral  and  physical  powers  of  that 
ardent  people  were  then  consolidated  by  their  patriotism, 
and  rendered  irresistible  by  their  numbers,  their  discipline, 
and  their  energy. 

XII.  At  that  awful  crisis  of  the  British  Empire,  the 
Irish  were  an  armed  and  triumphant  people ;  England  a 
defeated  and  trembling  nation.  Ireland  was  in  the  bloom 
of  energy  and  of  vigour ;  England  on  the  couch  of  dis- 
comfiture and  malady.  And  if  the  spirit  of  indigenous 
disaffection,  so  falsely  imputated  to  the  Irish  Nation,  had, 
in  reality,  existed,  she  had  then  full  scope,  and  ample 
powers,  to  pursue  and  effect  all  its  dispositions  for  an 
eternal  separation. 

It  is  not,  however,  by  modern  or  isolated  events  alone, 
that  a  fair  judgment  can  be  formed  of  the  characteristic 
attributes  of  any  nation  ;  still  less  so  of  a  worried  and  mis- 
governed people.  It  is  only  by  recurring  to  remoter 
periods,  thence  tracing,  step  by  step,  the  conduct  of  Ireland 
throughout  all  her  provocations,  her  miseries,  and  her 
persecutions,  and  then  comparing  the  extent  of  ner  suf- 
ferings, her  endurance,  and  her  loyalty,  with  those  of  her 
sister  countries  during  the  same  periods,  that  the  compa- 
rative character  of  both  can  be  justly  appreciated,  and 
those  calumnies  which  have  weighed  so  heavily  on  her 
reputation  be  effectually  refuted. 

It  is  a  matter  of  indisputable  fact,  that  during  the 
twenty  reigns  which  succeeded  the  first  submission  of  the 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  201 

Irish  princes,  the  fidelity  of  Ireland  to  the  British  mo- 
narchs  was  but  seldom  interrupted,  and  that  Irish  soldiers 
were  not  unfrequently  brought  over  to  England,  to  defend 
their  English  sovereigns  against  the  insurrections  of 
English  rebels. 

But  when  we  peruse  the  authenticated  facts  of  British 
annals  during  the  same  twenty  reigns,  we  find  an  unex- 
tinguishable  spirit  of  disaffection  to  their  princes,  and  that 
an  insatiable  thirst  for  rebellion  and  disloyalty  signalized 
every  reign,  and  almost  every  year  of  British  history, 
during  the  same  period ;  that  above  thirty  civil  wars 
raged  within  the  English  nation ;  four  of  their  monarchs 
were  dethroned  ;  three  of  their  kings  were  murdered,  and 
during  four  centuries,  the  standard  of  rebellion  scarcely 
ever  ceased  to  wave  over  some  portion  of  that  distracted 
island ;  and  so  deeply  had  disloyalty  been  engrafted  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  British  nobles  and  British  people, 
that  insurrection  and  regicide,  if  not  the  certain,  were 
the  expected  consequences  of  every  coronation. 

Through  these  observations,  the  eye  of  England  will 
at  length  be  directed  to  these  events.  They  will  then  be 
convinced  that  there  lurked  within  the  bosom  of  Great 
Britain  herself  the  germs  of  a  disquietude  more  unre- 
mitting, a  licentiousness  more  inflammatory,  a  fanaticism 
more  intolerant,  and  a  political  agitation  more  dangerous 
and  unjustifiable,  than  any  which  even  her  most  inveterate 
foes  can  justly  extract  from  an  impartial  history  of  the 
libelled  country. 

This  short  digression  must  have  the  advantage  of  illus- 
trating the  principles  which  led  to  the  transactions  of 
1798  and  1800,  those  gloomy  epochs  of  Irish  calamity ; 
it  may  enlighten  that  dark  and  profound  ignorance  of 
Irish  History  and  transactions  which  still  obscure  the 
intellect  of  the  English  people,  and  even  leads  members 
of  the  united  Parliament  to  avow  that  utter  ignorance  of 
the  very  country  and  people  as  to  whom  they  were  at  the 
same  moment  so  severely  legislating.  Those  men  aie 
surely  the  most  injurious  to  the  general  tranquillity  of  a 
state,  the  collected  power  of  united'  nations,  and  the 
safety  of  the  common  weal,  whose  prejudices  ignorance 
and  bigotry  lead  them  by  wanton  irritation  to  engendei 
uncongenial  feelings  in  eight  millions  of  so  powerful., 
ardent,  and  generous  a  portion  of  the  empire. 


802  RISE    AND    FALL 


CHAPTER   XII 

Epitome  of  Irish  History — Treacherous  system  of  the  English  Govern, 
ment — First  Irish  Union — Second  Union  compared  with  the  first — 
King  Henry's  Acts  in  Ireland — His  plan  to  decimate  the  nation — H« 
relinquished  his  dominion  over  Ireland — Abortive  attempts  to  colonize 
—Totally  failed. 

I.  The  Irish  annals,  though  more  imperfect,  can  be  traced 
by  tradition  farther  back  than  those  of  England.  Ancient 
records,  and  other  evidence  also  of  a  most  indisputable 
nature,  of  the  eighth  and  preceding  centuries,  prove  thai 
in  the  earliest  ages  Ireland  had  been  the  seat  of  literature, 
arts,  and  refinement ;  and  scarcely  a  year  passes  without 
discovering  strong  proofs  of  her  former  wealth,  skill,  and 
magnificence.*  She  first  degenerated  under  the  invasion 
of  northern  barbarians ;  and  while  England  profited  by 
the  intercourse  of  her  great  and  accomplished  conquerors, 
Ireland  had  retrograded  under  the  ignorance  and  brutality 
of  hers. 

By  the  great  battle  of  Howth,  her  Danish  tyrants  were 
at  length  exterminated,  and  Ireland  was  gradually  re- 
covering her  original  prosperity,  when  she  found  that 

*  Some  English  writers,  of  the  best  authority,  acknowledge  the  high 
itate  of  learning  and  civilization,  which  existed  in  Ireland  during  the 
early  ages;  and  numerous  works  and  manuscripts  now  in  the  Vatican 
and  the  Royal  Library  at  Paris,  put  the  truth  of  that  fact  beyond  all  ques- 
tion. The  variety  and  exquisite  workmanship  of  ornaments  and  weapons 
of  solid  gold,  still  occasionally  found  buried  in  the  bogs  of  Ireland,  leave 
ho  doubt  that  great  metallic- wealth  and  superior  skill  once  existed  in 
that  country,  and  that  some  of  the  arts  were  cultivated  there  to  an  almost 
unexampled  perfection.  The  author  has  seen  a  solid  piece  of  virgin 
gold,  found  in  one  of  the  Wicklow  gold  mines,  about  twenty-eight  miles 
from  Dublin,  larger  than  a  racket  ball,  and  a  great  quantity  of  smaller 
dimensions.  The  mines  extend  many  miles  up  the  bed  of  a  shallow 
ttream,  springing  from  the  cliffs  in  the  mountains.  And  an  Irish  statute 
in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  prohibiting  the  native  Irish  from  using 
ipld  stirrups  and  bridles,  is  a  convincing  proof  that,  even  since  the  Eng. 
fish  invasion,  sumptuary  laws  were  judged  proper  to  restrain  the  remain 
tag  tendency  to  profuse  splendour  among  the  Irish  chieftains. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  203 

she  had  only  changed  the  name,  not  the  nature  of  her 
■lavery. 

It  was  at  this  commencement  of  her  convalescence,  and 
before  the  Irish  monarch  had  as  yet  been  able  to  reform 
the  chiefs  or  re-establish  his  authority,  that  a  band  ot 
British  adventurers,  headed  by  Stiguel  Strongbow,  a  Bri- 
tish nobleman,  abetted  by  the  subtlety  and  practices  of  a 
vicious  native  chieftain,  the  treacherous  Mac  Murrough, 
landed  in  Ireland,  with  a  view  to  mend  their  fortunes  by 
conquest,  and  by  plunder. 

Earl  Strongbow  found  in  Ireland  a  powerful  but  a  dis- 
jointed people,  who  though  they  had  regained  their  in- 
dependence, were  still  divided  by  jealous  factions, — 
enfeebled  by  civil  warfare,  and  dispirited  by  the  dread  oi 
recurring  contests.  He  found  it  a  worn  down,  palsied 
nation,  well  adapted  to  become  a  prey  to  the  impression 
of  arms,  or  the  wiles  of  treachery.  He  was  lavish  in  the 
use  of  both.  She  struggled  much  with  these  disciplined 
adventurers  ;  but  her  vigour  had  been  exhausted  by  her 
civil  contests,  and,  though  occasionally  victorious,  her 
energy  had  declined,  and  her  powers  were  but  inter- 
mitting. As  her  strength  failed,  her  terrors  augmented ; 
and  she  was  finally  induced  to  listen  to  the  deceptious 
representations  of  Strongbow  and  Mac  Murrough ;  and 
after  an  ineffectual  resistance  she  fell  beneath  the  mingled 
pressure  of  arms  and  of  seduction.  At  a  conference  in 
1170,  her  Chieftains  were  told  nearly  in  the  same  words 
which  disgraced  her  Parliament  in  1800,  that  there  could 
be  no  remission  of  her  internal  feuds,  no  protection  against 
future  massacres,  but  by  a  voluntary  sacrifice  of  that  mis- 
chievous and  agitating  independence,  which  she  had  so 
uselessly  enjoyed,  and  was  so  unavailingly  contending  for, 
but  that,  if  united  to  the  flourishing  and  powerful  realm 
of  Britain,  its  benevolent  and  potent  monarch  would  then 
find  it  to  be  the  interest  of  his  empire  to  arrest  all  her 
feuds,  and  promote  her  prosperity. 

II.  Though  the  spirit  of  national  independence  still 
lingered  in  the  country,  her  heart  was  broken ;  the  melan- 
choly recollection  of  feuds,  of  defeats,  and  misfortunes, 
made  a  powerful  impression  on  the  jealous  and  divided 
leaders.  Mac  Murrough's  treachery  had  destroyed  all 
confidence  amongst  the  Princes — discord  had  torn  the 


204  RISE    AND    FALL 

Royal  Standard  of  the  Irish  Monarch — the  Chieftains 
had  no  general  rallying  station  to  collect  their  powers 
they  submitted  to  the  invaders,  and  each  stipulated  for 
himself,  and  influenced  his  Kernes*  to  a  reluctant  capi- 
tulation 

The  choice  of  difficulties  and  dangers,  or  of  rewards 
and  honours,  was  held  out  to  the  most  obdurate  opponents 
of  British  annexation.  Some  leaders  were  gained  by 
specious  promises  of  territory ;  many  were  beguiled  by 
the  assurance  of  future  protection,  and  a  large  portion 
of  the  chieftains  at  length  yielded  to  the  sway  of  a  British 
sceptre. 

But  this  submission  never  was  unanimous.  Many  who 
would  have  resisted  it  to  the  last  extremity,  were  dismayed 
and  scattered ;  many  who  retained  the  power  to  resist  it, 
were  terrified  or  corrupted  ;  and  though  the  acquisition 
of  the  entire  island  appeared  to  have  been  effected  by  the 
adventurers,  the  appearance  was  fallacious.  However, 
the  English  Strongbow  gained  great  honours  for  his 
achievement,  the  Irish  Mac  Murrough  obtained  great 
rewards  for  his  treachery,  the  adventurers  were  com- 
pensated at  the  expense  of  the  natives :  and  the  First 
Union  of  Ireland  with  Britain,  in  the  year  1173,  received 
a  royal  assent  and  consummation  from  the  Second  Henry. 

It  is  very  remarkable,  that  though  the  occurrences 
were  so  different,  the  persons  so  dissimilar,  and  the  periods 
so  remote,  the  circumstances  attending  this  first  annexation 
of  Ireland  cannot  be  reflected  on  without  the  memory 
also  recurring  to  the  circumstances  of  the  last.     Though 

:  *  Kernes  were  a  species  of  followers  who  attended  the  Irish  Chief- 
tains, ready  to  execute  any  business  to  which  their  patrons  might  order 
them.  The  Chiefs  generally  gained  importance  with  the  King  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  Kernes  he  could  produce,  when  the  King  had  occa- 
sion for  their  assistance :  and  when  a  Chief  made  terms  for  himself,  he 
generally  stipulated  for  his  Kernes  into  the  bargain. 

They  despised  any  independent  mode  of  livelihood ;  and  often  lived 
in  a  state  of  expectation  on  their  Chief,  or  by  the  public.  This  race 
seems  not  to  have  been  totally  extinct  in  Ireland,  in  1800,  though  thej 
then  existed  undei  the  denomination  of  gentlefolks.  See  the  fac  simile 
of  Mr.  Robert  Crowe's  letter,  annexed  to  this  volume,  respecting  Lord 
Castlereagh's  treaty  with  the  Earl  of  Belvidere,  to  purchase  Messrs. 
Knox  and  Crowe  (two  of  his  Lordsh'p's  members):  Witnessed  by  the 
ttev.  Mr.  Usher*  his  Lordship's  chaplain.— Lzteri  script  a -manct. 


OF    THB    IRISH    NAT'  3N.  205 

Oomwallis  was  not  Strong-bow,  though  Castlereagh  was 
not  Mac  Murrough,  though  the  Peers  were  not  Princes, 
and  the  Commons  were  not  Kernes  ;  and  though  nearly 
seven  centuries  had  intervened  between  the  accomplish- 
ment of  these  unions,  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognize  in 
their  features  a  strong  family  resemblance. 

Henry  lost  no  time  in  repairing  to  the  Irish  metropolis, 
where,  in  great  state  he  received  the  allegiance  of  his  new 
but  reluctant  subjects ;  and  feasted  the  Irish  Princes  in  a 
style  of  magnificence  and  splendour  unusual  in  those 
times.  But  his  banquets  were  those  of  policy,  his  splen- 
dours were  founded  on  contempt,  and  before  the  games 
aiid  rejoicings  which  accompanied  those  celebrated  feasts 
were  yet  entirely  terminated,  the  beards  of  Irish  Kings 
had  been  pulled  by  the  vassals  of  the  English  monarch.* 

III.  Henry,  on  his  return  to  England,  soon  perceived 
that  the  submission  of  such  a  people,  effected  by  such 
means,  could  never  be  permanent ;  that  his  Irish  sove- 
reignty, if  not  actually  precarious,  must  be  inevitably 
embarrassing.  He  found  that  his  narrow  revenues  were 
inadequate  to  the  expenses  of  perpetual  and  desultory 
warfare ;  and  truly  conceived,  that  the  most  certain, 
cheap,  and  feasible  mode  of  retaining  his  new  subjects  in 
due  subjection,  would  be  by  fomenting  the  jealousies 
which  had  reduced  them  to  his  authority,  and  aggravating 
those  feuds  which  he  had  promised  to  extinguish ;  and 
thus,  by  alternately  fostering  and  depressing  the  contend- 
ing factions  to  embroil  them  in  eternal  contests,  and  leave 
them  no  strength  to  regain  their  independence  when  they 
returned  to  their  reason. 

This  system  of  misrule,  connecting  a  decrease  of  their 
resources  with  an  increase  of  their  ignorance,  had  then  a 
powerful  operation  in  keeping  down  the  people  :  and  this 

*  Henry  had  a  temporary  palace  erected  on  Hoghill  (now  St.  Andrew 
Street),  Dublin,  where  he  entertained  such  Irish  princes  as  acknowledged 
him  for  their  liege  lord.  The  singularity  of  their  dress  and  manners 
were  subjects  of  amusement  and  ridicule  to  Henry's  courtiers.  He  en- 
tertained them  on  a  feast  of  stories,  a  bird  never  eaten  in  Ireland.  These 
banquets,  which  lasted  nine  days  ended  without  any  permanent  advan- 
tage to  Henry.  Most  of  the  princes  and  chiefs  considered  themselves 
insulted  by  the  familiarity  of  his  followers,  and  returned  home  with  a 
fall  determination  to  reassert  their  independence  and  resist  his  authority 
*m  thfi  first  favourable  opportunitv 

18 


806  RISE    AND   FALL 

same  fundamental  and  favourite  principle  of  governing  Ire- 
.and  has  been  effectively  adopted  by  every  king,  usurper, 
and  minister  of  England,  for  seven  distracted  centuries, 

Henry  having  discovered  by  experience  that  his  nomi- 
nal kingdom  of  Ireland  was  likely  to  afford  him,  ill  the 
end,  little  more  than  a  fertile  desert,  sprinkled  over  with 
inveterate  enemies ;  and  that  neither  peace,  nor  strength, 
nor  honour,  nor  what  to  him  was  more  important,  tribute, 
was  likely  to  be  the  produce  of  his  newly-acquired  terri- 
tory, became  indifferent  to  its  state,  and  left  it  to  its  destiny. 

The  successors  of  Henry  also  perceiving  that  they 
possessed  but  a  naked  and  consuming  power,  equally 
unprofitable  and  precarious,  formed  the  design  of  coloni- 
zing Ireland  by  English  settlers ;  who,  connecting  them- 
selves by  affinity  with  the  uncultivated  natives,  would 
improve  their  habits  and  gradually  introduce  a  growing 
attachment  to  the  English  people. 

IV.  This  theory  was  plausible  and  meritorious ;  but  the 
propensities  of  human  nature  were  not  calculated  on  in 
ihe  execution ;  the  project  was  merely  abstract,  uncon- 
nected with  any  general  system  of  wise  or  conciliatory 
government :  and  the  attempt  at  colonization,  instead  of 
pioducing  in  the  Irish  a  more  congenial  feeling  only  con- 
firmed their  hatred,  increased  their  powers,  and  became 
one  of  the  keenest  thorns  that  ever  pierced  the  side  of 
British  governments. 

There  is  something  cordial,  open,  and  joyous,  in  the 
native  Irish  character,  which  never  fails  to  attract  and 
seldom  to  attach,  strangers  who  reside  amongst  that  peo- 
ple. Even  their  errors  become  contagious  by  protracted 
intercourse ;  and  the  habits  and  propensities  of  the  host 
and  of  the  domiciliated  foreigner  become  quickly  and 
almost  imperceptibly  assimilated. 

This  malady  became  almost  epidemic  amongst  the 
colonists,  whom  the  policy  of  England  had  vainly  sent 
over  to  improve  the  people.  On  all  important  occasions, 
the  new  race  evinced  a  more  than  ordinary  attachment  to 
the  place  of  their  settlement,  and  vied  with  the  Irish  in  an 
inveterate  hostility  to  the  domination  of  their  own  compat- 
riots ;  and  in  the  direct  descendants  of  those  British  colo- 
nists, England  has  since  found  many  of  the  most  able,  dis- 
tinguished, and  persevering  of  her  political  opponents. 


Or    THE    IRISH    NA     ION.  207 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

frelar  1  kept  in  a  state  of  oppression  and  turbulence — Elizabeth  becomei 
Qu;en  —  Character  public  and  private  of  Queen  Elizabeth — Henry 
the  VIII. — Fanaticism  of  the  English — True  principles  of  tolerance- 
Union  of  religion  and  political  fanaticism — Religious  schisms  excited 
through  Luther — Violent  dissensions — The  Irish  roused — Cruel  tyran- 
ny of  Elizabeth — Earl  of  Tyrone  excites  the  Irish — Extract  from  hia 
speech — General  rising  of  the  Irish  and  old  English  colonists — Im- 
mense slaughter — Confiscation  of  whole  provinces  to  Elizabeth — Ac- 
cession of  James  the  First — Comparison  with  Elizabeth — His  wise 
maxims — Conciliator}'  principles — Its  full  success — Charles  the  First — ■ 
Disloyalty  of  the  English — Ireland  desolated  by  Cromwell. 

I.  The  English  monarchs,  disappointed  in  this  plausible 
project,  perceived  that  colonization  was  a  hopeless  expe- 
dient, and  became  more  inveterate  against  "  the  degene- 
rate English  of  the  Pale,"  than  against  the  aboriginal 
natives ;  and  for  some  centuries  in  every  contest  of  the  two 
nations,  a  full  proportion  of  the  British  settlers,  or  of  their 
descendants,  fell  by  the  executioner,  or  under  the  sword  of 
their  own  countrymen.  Through  the  same  vicious  policy 
by  which  Ireland  had  been  kept  in  perpetual  warfare,  it 
remained  in  a  state  of  ignorance,  misery,  and  turbulence, 
when  Elizabeth,  one  of  the  most  sagacious  of  rulers,  and 
the  most  unprincipled  of  women,  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
and  to  the  vices  of  her  father. 

Compared  with  later  periods,  Elizabeth's  sphere  of 
action  wa  s  contracted.  Compared  with  modern  times,  her 
reign  was  a  reign  in  minature.  But  at  all  times  it  would 
have  been  considered  a  reign  of  talent,  and  in  all  countries 
a  reign  of  tyranny. 

II.  She  was  well  adapted  to  rule  over  a  nation,  where, 
il  she  governed  with  success  she  might  govern  despotically. 
The  uncontrolled  tyranny  of  her  father,  had  prepared  her 
subjects  to  admire  any  thing  on  their  throne  superior  to  a 
monster.  The  imbecility  of  her  brother  was  contrasted 
with  the  vigour  of  her  own  intellect;  and  she  assumed 
the  British  sceptre,  with  all  the  advantages  which  expe- 
rience and  expectation  could  excite  in  a  worried  people. 


208  RISE    AND    FA    L 

Her  reign  is  celebrated  as  the  most  glorious  and  admired 
era  of  British  history ;  but,  with  all  its  merits,  it  owed 
much  of  its  celebrity  to  the  darkness  of  the  times,  the 
habitual  slavery  of  the  people,  the  sex  of  the  monarch, 
and  the  talents  of  the  ministry.  And  Charles  afterwards 
lost  his  head,  and  James  his  throne,  for  assuming,  a  small 
portion  of  that  despotic  rule  which  is  eulogized  by  the 
biographers  of  their  female  predecessor. 

The  wisdom  of  Elizabeth  was  not  the  wisdom  of  philo- 
sophy. It  was  a  penetrating  sagacity,  prompt,  vigilant, 
and  inflexible.  The  energy  of  her  resolution,  and  her 
profound  dissimulation,  surmounted  what  her  physical 
powers  would  have  been  unable  to  accomplish  ;  at  home, 
she  was  despotic,  abroad,  she  was  victorious ;  by  sea,  by 
land,  by  negotiation,  she  was  every  way  successful.  The 
external  glory  of  England  arose  under  her  administration. 
Providence  seemed  to  pardon  her  disregard  of  moral 
principles,  and  to  smile  even  upon  the  vices  of  this 
celebrated  female.  The  people  admired  her,  because 
she  was  a  successful  queen ;  and  she  liked  the  people, 
because  they  were  submissive  vassals.  By  the  acuteness 
Gf  her  discrimination  she  chose  able  ministers.  They 
served  her  with  fidelity,  because  they  feared  her  anger 
and  they  flattered  her  vanities,  because  it  prolonged  her 
favour.  But  they  served  her  at  their  peril;  and  she 
selected  and  sacrificed  them  with  equal  policy  and  in- 
difference. 

She  affected  learning,  and  she  professed  religion.  In  the 
one  she  was  a  pedant  without  depth ;  and  in  the  other, 
she  was  a  bigot  without  devotion.  She  plundered  her 
people,  to  be  independent  of  her  parliaments ;  and  she 
bullied  the  parliaments  to  be  independent  of  the  people. 
She  was  frugal  of  their  money  where  she  had  no  passion 
for  expending  it ;  and  she  was  generous  to  her  favourites 
for  her  own  gratification. 

Magna  Charta  had  been  trampled  on  by  a  succession  of 
tyrants.  The  principles  of  civil  liberty  had  been  forgotten 
in  the  country ;  ■  and,  throughout  the  whole  course  of  hei 
reign,    Elizabeth    assiduously   laboured    to    retain    hei 

riople  in  the  most  profound  ignorance  of  constitutional 
?edom. 
The  word  mercy  was  banished  from  hei  vocabulary 


OF    THE    IRISK    NATION.  209 

Her  administration  as  to  Ireland  where  she  experienced 
no  restraint,  gave  the  strongest  proofs  that  she  felt  na 
compunctions.  In  her  nature  there  was  no  feminine  soft- 
ness to  moderate  her  cruelties ;  no  moral  scruples  tc 
arrest  her  conscience  ;  no  elevated  generosity  to  contract 
her  dissimulation.  Though  she  was  mistress  of  the  great 
qualities,  she  was  a  slave  to  the  little  ones;*  and  though 
the  strength  of  her  judgment  somewhat  restrained  the 
progress  of  her  vices,  she  was  intrepid  but  harsh,  trea- 
cherous, and  decisive ;  even  the  spirit  of  murdered  Mary 
could  not  appall  her  fortitude.  The  eyes  of  the  people 
were  closed  by  the  brilliancy  of  her  successes,  and  the 
crimes  of  the  woman  were  merged  in  the  popularity  of 

•  Mr.  Hume's  life  and  character  of  Queen  Elizabeth  appear  altogethei 
irreconcileable  to  each  other.  In  his  delineation  of  her  character,  he 
states  her  to  be  a  princess  of  the  most  "  magnanimous  virtues  "  In  the 
anecdotes  of  her  life,  he  states  her  to  have  been  guilty  of  as  tyrannic, 
cruel,  and  treacherous  actions  as  any  crowned  head  (Richard  excepted) 
that  ever  filled  the  throne  of  England.  Amongst  numerous  other  exam- 
ples of  her  "  magnanimous  virtues"  Mr.  Hume  details  her  interview 
with  the  Lord  Chancellor  Bacon,  when  Her  Majesty  declared  with  vehe- 
mence, that  she  would  order  Mr.  Hayward,  an  innocent  inoffensive  man, 
to  be  put  upon  the  rack  and  tortured,  solely  because  he  had  translated 
some  passages  of  Tacitus,  which  Her  Majesty's  ignorance  of  that  author 
permitted  her  to  suppose  were  Hayward's  own  composition,  and  were 
intended  to  reflect  upon  herself 

Mr.  Hume's  attempt  to  apologise  for  the  despotic  conduct  of  Elizabeth 
certainly  requires  a  very  ample  apology  for  himself.  He  says,  "  She 
did  not  always  do  what  was  best,  but  she  did  what  was  usual ;"  the 
most  tyrannic  political  principle  ever  avowed  by  any  modern  historian 
What  was  "  best"  was  her  imperative  duty  as  a  Sovereign,  what  was 
•*  usual"  (after  the  reigns  of  her  father  and  her  sister)  must  be  the  apol- 
ogy of  a  tyrant,  sheltering  the  commission  of  crime  under  the  protection 
of  precedent.  Mr.  Hume  might  as  justly  excuse  her  errors  by  the  pre- 
cedent of  the  Emperor  of  Morocco,  who  makes  the  same  apology  for 
shooting  one  of  his  subjects  every  morning  as  a  matter  of  amusement, 
because  it  was  usual.  Had  some  of  Mr.  Hume's  antitheological  essays 
been  published  in  the  reign  of  his  favourite  Elizabeth,  the  author  cer- 
tainly would  have  retracted  either  on  the  rack,  or  among  the  faggots, 
every  eulogium'on  her  "  magnanimous  virtues." 

As  a  further  exemplification  of  Elizabeth's  "  magnanimous  virtues," 
Mr.  Hume  states  also  (vol.  v.  page  449),  a  letter  of  that  Queen,  to  the 
Earl  of  bussex,  expressing  her  displeasure,  that  proper  severity  had 
not  been  exercised  against  some  English  insurgents,  although  it  appeared, 
that  his  Lordship  had  previously  hanged  above  eight  hundred  of  thero 
to  gratify  his  mistress.  However,  this  was  merciful,  in  comparison  with 
I  er  orders  to  Carew  and  Mountjov,  as  to  the  Irish. 

18* 


flO  RISE    AND    FALL 

the  monarch.  Such  was  the  British  princess,  who  first 
projected  an  extirpation  of  the  aboriginal  Irish ;  and  she 
soon  discovered  and  put  into  action  the  most  deadly 
weapon  to  effect  her  purposes. 

III.  Her  father,  Henry,  the  Nero  of  British  history 
had  assumed,  as  a  pastime,  the  trade  of  a  theologist , 
and  changing  his  religion  as  often  as  he  decapitated  his 
consorts,  at  length  settled  his  veering  faith,  by  declaring 
himself  a  Reformist,  with  the  most  unqualified  intolerance 

Theological  disputes,  after  this  important  auxiliary  tc 
the  Reformation,  altogether  divested  the  minds  of  men  of 
the  attributes  of  common  reason ;  and  the  black  3st  eno? 
mities  were  considered  as  the  most  holy  virtues,  if  they 
corresponded  with  the  fanaticism  of  deluded  imagi- 
nations. 

Henry's  sectorial  versatility  had  extended  not  only  to  his 
subjects,  but  to  his  children.  Mary  and  Elizabeth  had 
embraced  adverse  tenets  with  equal  pertinacity ;  and  the 
whole  population  of  England  plunged  at  once,  under  the 
cloak  of  religion,  into  the  commission  of  the  very  crimes 
which  were  prohibited  by  its  precepts. 

One  moment  of  calm  unbigotted  reflection  must  con- 
vince every  man,  not  only  of  the  folly,  but  of  the  impiety 
of  such  controversies.  The  point  is  plain,  the  dogma 
simple,  that  no  human  authority  should  control  man,  as 
to  his  choice  of  what  words  he  may  utter,  what  language 
he  may  adopt,  what  posture  he  may  choose,  or  what  cere- 
monies he  may  practice,  in  the  abstract  act  of  piously 
supplicating  the  mercy  of  his  Creator. 

Common  sense,  however,  had  taken  its  flight  from  Eng 
land  ;  and  the  doctrines  of  Martin  Luther,  not  a  founde., 
but  a  fanatical   Reformist,   soon   became   the   greatest 
scourge  that  had  ever  been  laid  in  chastisement  upon  a 
sinful  people. 

His  doctrines,  which  professed  only. to  simplify  the 
exercises  of  Divine  worship,  to  purify  religion  from  the 
dross  with  which  it  had  amalgamated  through  priestcraft, 
to  diminish  the  mysteries  of  Revelation,  and  reconcile  the 
inconsistencies  of  Christian  theories,  failed  in  its  professed 
end,  and  inistantly  kindled  a  fanatic  fire  which  enveloped 
in  its  flames  the  reason  of  mankind ;  and  which,  daily 
applied  with  new  fuel,  has  continued  to  the  present  day 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  211 

alternately  smothering  and  blazing,  and  consuming,  with 
an  inextinguishable  violence. 

IV  The  incendiaries  of  modern  times  have  preserved 
this  destructive  fire  for  their  own  purposes.  They  per- 
ceived that  the  return  of  reason  must  be  the  death  of 
fanaticism,  and  that  discord  amongst  a  people  would  not 
survive  the  extinction  of  religious  prejudice,  without  the 
aid  of  some  new  excitement ;  political  feuds  have  been 
therefore  cultivated,  as  theological  ones  were  losing 
ground  ;  and  a  novel  and  complicated  system  of  discord 
has  been  invented  which,  by  artfully  entangling  the  theory 
of  politics  with  the  theories  of  religion,  and  fallaciously 
affecting  to  render  their  combination  inseparable,  has  per- 
petuated animosities  which  were  declining  with  rapidity. 
And  this  culpable  and  insidious  policy  appears  to  have 
been  most  sedulously  and  successfully  cultivated  in 
Ireland. 

Elizabeth,  even  in  those  early  times,  well  knew  the 
efficacy  of  this  species  of  weapon,  to  inflame,  to  divide, 
and  to  conquer. 

The  Reformation  (now  fully  established  in  England) 
furnished  her  with  a  weapon  for  the  general  subjugation 
of  Ireland,  more  fatal  and  effective  than  the  keenest  sword 
which  had  been  whetted  by  any  of  her  predecessors  for 
the  same  purpose. 

V.  The  later  of  the  English  settlers  in  Ireland  had 
embraced  the  novel  doctrines  of  Luther.  The  natives 
and  the  old  English  colonists  adhered  to  the  original 
faith.  This  portion  of  the  people,  therefore,  perse- 
cuted and  stigmatised,  sunk  into  ignorance ;  and,  hunted 
down  as  outlaws,  finding  no  protection  but  with  their 
shiefs,  and  no  instruction  but  from  their  clergy,  naturally 
attached  themselves  to  both  with  a  savage  fidelity.  Eliza- 
beth took  advantage  of  every  circumstance  to  attain  her 
objects.  The  reformation  was  not  only  proclaimed,  but 
enforced  in  Ireland  with  unexampled  rigor.  A  few  adopt- 
ed, most  rejected,  but  none  comprehended  it.  Elizabeth 
having  lighted  the  firebrand  at  both  ends,  tossed  it  amongst 
the  people.  The  sects  fought  around  it,  and  Elizabeth's 
officers  gave  out,  "  Reform,"  as  the  watch- word  of  the 
combatants,  and  the  pretext  for  extermination. 

^he  contending  factions  massacred  each  other  without 


212  RISK    AND    FALL  * 

mercy  or  compunction,  and  without  any  intelligible  reason 
for  their  individual  animosities. 

The  famished,  harassed  people,  in  the  midst  of  blood 
and  flame,  naturally  became  alive. to  every  feeling,  and 
susceptible  to-  every  argument,  -which  could  show  them 
the  way  to  even  a  prospect  of  alleviation.  Their  chiefs 
and  their  clergy  were  their  only  instructors,  who  in  the 
wild,  strong,  persuasive  language  of  their  country,  im- 
pressed in  glowing  figures  on  the  shivering  multitude,  the 
excesses  of  their  misery,  fired  their  irritable  minds  by  a 
distant  prospect  of  deliverance,  and  harrowed  up  all  the 
feelings  of  hatred  to  their  oppressors,  which  torture  and 
famine  had  implanted  in  their  bosoms. 

Elizabeth  proceeded  systematically  in  her  projects. 
She  first  ordered  the  performance  of  the  Catholic  worship 
to  be  forcibly  prohibited  in  Ireland.  She  ordered  the 
rack  to  be  employed,  and  directed  her  officers  to  torture 
the  suspected  Irish.  She  ordered  free  quarters  on  the 
peasantry  to  gratify  her  soldiers,  and  rouse  the  natives  to 
premature  insurrections.  Her  executioners  were  ordered 
to  butcher  them  without  mercy.  Religion  was  abolished 
by  martial  law,  and  Divine  worship  prohibited  under 
pain  of  death. 

This  curious  order  of  Q,ueen  Elizabeth  remains  still  on 
record.  By  her  instructions  to  the  Deputy  of  Munster 
(Carew)  in  159P  9,  on  his  going  over  to  carry  her  exter- 
minating schemes  into  execution  in  that  country,  she  au- 
thorizes her  officers  to  "  put  suspected  Irish  to  the  rack, 
and  to  torture  "  them  when  they  should  find  it  conveni- 
ent" Carew  fulfilled  her  Majesty's  instructions  to  their 
full  extent,  and  at  the  conclusion  of  his  government  she 
had  the  satisfaction  of  finding  that  Munster  was  nearly 
depopulated. 

.  It  is  here  well  worthy  of  reflection,  that  the  exercise  o:' 
free  quarters  and  martial  law,  the  suspension  of  all  muni- 
cipal courts  of  justice,  the  discretional  application  of  the 
torture  to  suspected  persons,  executions  in  cold  blood, 
and  the  various  measures  which  Mountjoy  and  Carew, 
and  the  other  officers  of  Elizabeth  practised  in  Ireland  by 
her 'authority  in  1598-9,  were  again  judged  to  be  expe- 
dient, and  were  again  resorted  lo  with  vigour  in  the  years 
1798  9;  two  hundred  years  after  they  had  been  practised 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  213 

k  y  the  ministers  ot  Elizabeth.  The  ruinous  misrule  of 
Ireland  for  nearly  two  centuries,  and  the  errors  of  Eliza- 
beth's barbarous  policy,  are  proved  beyond  all  controversy 
by  the  extent  of  improvement  in  Ireland,  and  in  the  habits 
of  the  Irish  people,  in  a  very  few  years,  under  the  mild 
and  benevolent  administration  of  James  the  First,  her 
successor,  and  the  adoption  by  him  of  a  system  of  govern- 
ment diametrically  the  reverse  of  that  which  had  been 
practised  by  Elizabeth,  proves  that  Ireland  advanced 
more  in  loyalty,  prosperity,  and  civilization,  under  a  tem- 
perate and  conciliating  administration  in  a  few  years, 
than  in  four  centuries  of  coercion  and  severity  ;  a  prece- 
dent which  should  never  have  been  lost  sight  of  by  Bri- 
tish ministers,  but  to  which  they  seemed  too  long  to  have 
been  either  entirely  blind,  or  criminally  inattentive.  Ire- 
land never  was  governed,  nor  ever  can  be  ruled,  by  any 
coercive  system,  and  those  who  think  otherwise  know 
little  of  her  character. 

Harassed  by  every  mode  that  the  ingenuity  of  oppres- 
sion could  inflict  or  dictate,  the  natives,  already  barbarised 
by  servitude,  became  savage  by  irritation  ;  and  at  length 
the  whole  population,  wrought  up  to  frenzy,  flew  into 
resistance,  and  have  been  libelled  as  traitors  to  the  Bri- 
tish crown  for  asserting  the  indefeasible  rights  of  human 
nature,  and  claiming  the  enjoyments  of  civil  liberty,  for 
which  their  allegiance  to  Elizabeth  was  only  a  "  condi- 
tion subsequent* 

IV.  The  Earl  of  Tyrone,  an  Irish  chieftain,  was  a  man 
of  great  talents,  and  for  those  days  a  powerful  leader. 
Skilful,  courageous,  and  persevering,  he  raised  the  stan- 
dard of  insurrection  against  the  government  of  Elizabeth. 
He  represented  to  the  wretched  natives  in  the  animating 
colours  of  uncultivated  eloquence:  "The  miseries  they 
had  been  enduring  under  the  tyranny  of  their  oppressors." 

He  presented  to  their  view  the  proclamation  of  Eliza* 
beth  to  extinguish  for  ever  the  religion  of  their  ancestors. 
He  told  them,  "  that  the  power  of  endurance  had  arrived 
at  its  final  limits,  that   an  attempt  for  their  liberation 


•  This  principle  has  since  become  an  acknowledged  maxim,  and  com* 
ponent  part  of  the  British  constitution :  yet  was  violated  in  Ireland  bj 
wrill>am,  the  same  prince  through  whose  usurpation  it.  was  established. 


214  RISE    AND    FALL 

though  unsuccessful,  could  not  even  by  its  failure  aggra* 
vate  their  miseries.  That  death  would  be  the  worst  they 
could  experience  by  battle,  and  that  death  was  preferable 
to  the  slow  tortures  they  were  enduring,  the  famine  undei 
which  they  languished,  and  the  desolation  of  their  families/ 

He  impressed  upon  their  heated  minds,  that  "their 
lands  were  overrun  by  foreign  soldiers  ;  their  homes  plun- 
dered or  enjoyed  by  the  butchering  bands  of  an  English 
female  ;  that  their  race  of  princes  Lad  become  a  family 
of  slaves,  and  their  clergy  had  been  executed  as  the  guil- 
tiest felons  :"  and  he  invoked  them,  "  in  the  name  of  their 
country,  by  the  memory  of  their  ancestors,  and  the  holi- 
ness of  their  religion,  to  rise  as  one  man,  and  liberate  all 
from  their  tyrants."  Nor  can  an  impartial  reader  of  Irish 
and  English  history  deny  that  there  was  great  crimes  in 
Elizabeth's  government,  and  much  justice  in  Tyrone's 
representations. 

The  event  was  a  general  insurrection  of  the  aboriginal 
natives,  aided  by  a  great  number  of  the  English  settlers, 
who  had  become  connected  by  affinity  with  the  Irish 
chieftains.  But  in  all  such  contests,  a  multitude  of  naked 
insurgents,  without  arms,  without  officers,  without  any 
discipline  or  much  subordination,  without  any  of  the  ne- 
cessary requisites,  except  courage  and  numbers,  which 
could  resist  a  trained  and  accoutred  army,  must  naturally 
be  defeated,  and,  if  defeated,  have  seldom  reason  to  ex- 
pect mercy  from  the  conquerors  ;  such  was  the  fate  of 
Tyrone  and  his  followers. 

VII.  At  the  conclusion  of  these  dreadful  campaigns, 
though  the  Irish  people  had  been  diminished  by  nearly  a 
moiety,  and  though  the  entire  of  Ulster,  and  a  great  pro- 
portion of  the  other  provinces,  were  confiscated  to  her 
Majesty,*  Elizabeth  had  not  sated  the  voracity  of  her 
rancour.  The  chiefs  had  been  reduced  to  beggar)7,  the 
clergy  had  been  executed,  tbr  people  slaughtered,  their 
towns  destroyed,  their  castles  razed  ;  yet  still  she  felt  that 
Ireland  was  not  extinguished.    Though  under  the  weight 

•  A  circumstantial  account  of  this  most  sanguinary  insurrection  was 
afterwards  published  under  the  immediate  authority  of  the  Qt.een. 
Though  the  Peccata  Hibernia,  as  a  history,  cannot  be  an  impartial  one. 
yet  there  is  a  species  of  horrid  candour  runs  through  the  pages  of  thai 
work  which  gives  it  altogether  strong  claims  to  a  partial  authenticity. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  215 

Df  such  an  enormous  pressure,  the  chiefs  still  breathed, 
but  it  w  as  the  breath  of  vengeance.  The  clergy  were  re- 
cruited from  inveterate  sources  ;  and  even  the  very  name 
of  England  and  Reformation  was  rendered  detestable  by 
the  savage  cruelties  of  Elizabeth's  Reformers. 

Similar  efforts  of  that  determined  and  indefatigable 
Princess  to  crush  the  Irish  people  were  renewed,  resisted, 
and  persevered  in  during  her  long  reign.  Ireland  appear- 
ed to  Elizabeth  as  a  country  of  Hydras ;  every  head  she 
severed  produced  a  number  of  new  enemies :  she  slaugh- 
tered and  she  burned,  but  she  could  not  exterminate ; 
and,  at  length,  she  expired,  leaving  Ireland  to  her  suc- 
cessor, more  depopulated,  impoverished,  desolated,  igno- 
rant, and  feeble,  but  in  principle  more  inveterate  and  not 
more  subdued,  than  the  day  on  which  she  received  its 
sceptre. 

VIII.  James  the  First,  unfortunately  for  his  own  fame, 
succeeded  to  so  gaudy  a  reign  as  that  of  Elizabeth.  A 
great  proportion  of  his  better  qualities  was  thrown  away 
upon  the  English  Nation.  Intoxicated  by  the  renown 
and  splendour  of  Elizabeth's  successes,  they  undervalued 
the  advantages  of  tranquillity  and  of  improvement.  An 
English  Q,ueen  of  powerful  talents,  and  a  Scottish  King 
of  moderate  capacity ;  a  woman  of  undaunted  fortitude, 
and  a  man  of  personal  imbecility  ;  a  proud,  magnificent, 
and  dignified  female ;  an  awkward,  shambling,  unaffected 
Monarch,  drew  down  the  sarcasms  of  superficial  ridicule 
upon  one  of  the  best  reigns  for  the  internal  and  prospec- 
tive happiness  of  the  people. 

James's  system  of  government  was  as  distinct  as  possible 
from  that  of  his  predecessor's.  While  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth abounded  in  wars  abroad  and  despotism  at  home 
that  of  James  was  tranquillity  every  where ;  the  rudiments 
of  civil  liberty  slowly  and  gradually  advancing,  at  length 
became  very  visible  in  the  results  of  his  mild  and  pacific, 
though  whimsical  administration.  But  it  was  in  Ireland 
that  ths  government  of  James  was  most  remarkable  and 
most  Jsrtunate  ;  for  the  sword,  the  torture,  the  execu- 
tioner, and  desolation,  he  substituted  improvement  and 
well  regulated  justice.  He  sent  not  a  Mountjoy  nor  a 
Carew  to  inflame  and  massacre ;  he  sent  Davies  and  Petty 
lo  investigate  ana  to  instruct,  to  reform  and  tranquilize. 


216  RISE    AND    FALL 

They  sought  to  convince  the  natives,  by  examples  and  by 
reasoning,  that  their  ancient  laws  and  customs  were  less 
just  than  the  laws  o(  England  ;  and  by  practising,  as  far 
as  circumstances  could  admit,  those  principles  of  justice 
which  they  so  earnestly  recommended,  gave  the  people 
the  very  best  proofs  of  the  integrity  of  their  intentions. 

James  had  been  taught,  by  experience,  that  loyalty  to 
Monarchs  never  can  be  compulsory  ;  it  is  not  loyalty  it 
it  be  not  principle,  and  it  cannot  be  principle  if  it  be  not 
voluntary  :  past  events  in  Scotland  and  in  England  had 
proved  to  James,  that  the  loyalty  of  force  is  but  the  lucid 
interval  of  insurrection.  He  therefore  sought  to  persuade 
not  to  subdue,  his  Irish  subjects;  and,  to  moderate  th^ii 
feelings,  and  to  render  them  susceptible  of  persuasion,  he 
thought  it  necessary  to  give  them  overt  acts  of  his  owq 
moderation.* 

Himself  a  bigot  of  the  first  order,  yet  he  knew  how  to 
make  allowances  for  the  same  vice  in  others  ;  he  knew  that 
religious  persecution  is  the  assassin  of  morality,  and  he 
substituted  his  pen  for  his  sword  to  reform  his  subjects. 
Thus  James,  a  most  bigoted  Protestant  Monarch,  by 
tranquillity  and  moderation,  by  wise  measures  and  whole- 
some instruction,  conciliated,  and  governed  in  peace  and 
improvement,  a  nation  of  rude  and  exasperated  Catholics, 
still  bleeding  from  the  scourge  and  the  sword  of  his  pre- 
decessor ;  and  by  that  conduct  James  laid  the  basis  of 
whatever  civilization  that  country  afterwards  attained  to. 

The  reign  of  James  amply  demonstrates  that  Irish 
loyalty  was  fully  commensurate  with  royal  tolerance  ; 
and  that  whilst  plots  against  his  life,  and  conspiracies 
against  his  throne,  abounded  in  England,  and  debased  the 
British  character,  a  Catholic  population  in  Ireland  re- 
mained faithful  to  a  bigoted  Protestant  of  England ; 
and  by  their  conduct,  during  this  reign,  unequivocally  dis- 
proved the  charge  of  native  disloyalty.     Their  advance- 

*  It  cannot  be  controverted  that  many  acts  of  civil  injustice  were  com- 
mitted by  Chichester  and  other  officers  of  James  in  Ireland,  under  colour 
of  the  Commission  of  Escheats,  and  of  defective  titles  which  can  only 
be  palliated  by  a  comparison  with  the  reign  he  succeeded  to,  and  the 
times  he  lived  in;  at  all  events  the  reign  of  James  the  first  was  the 
only  truly  internal  Government  ever  experienced  by  Ireland,  from  its  fir* 
•nnexation  to  the  present  day 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  217 

menl  in  civilization  amply  repayed  both  the  people  and 
the  monarch ;  and  it  is  deeply  to  be  regretted,  that  nc 
government  of  England  followed  the  same  course,  to 
tranquilize  a  country,  whose  turbulence  has  ever  been  a 
theme  for  their  calumnies  and  their  severity. 

However,  Providence  had  decreed  that,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  James  the  First,  whether  kings,  or  queens,  or 
usurpeis,  were  the  rulers  of  Great  Britain,  the  same  de- 
structive and  desolating  system  should  be  adopted  as  to 
Ireland  ]  all  nations,  save  her,  had  some  intervals  of  tran- 
quillity ;  she  had  none  ;  and  the  more  she  suffered  in  the 
cause  ojr  royalty,  the  more  she  was  branded  with  the 
charge  01  disaffection. 

IX.  YVnen  Charles  the  First  succeeded  to  the  throne, 
the  doctrines  of  Luther  were  yielding  fast  to  new  sects  in 
England.  The  united  standard  of  bigotry  and  of  treason 
was  now  t-levated  by  the  Puritans  far  above  the  sphere  of 
all  former  sectaries ;  and  the  British  Constitution  (such 
as  it  was  hi  those  times)  was,  at  once,  demolished  even  to 
its  foundation.  Rebellion  and  hypocrisy  marched  hand 
in  hand  triumphantly  over  its  ruins ;  and  the  intolerance 
of  Mary  a) id  of  Elizabeth  only  changed  its  garb,  but  re- 
tained its  principles,  in  the  practice  of  Cromwell. 

The  English  Commons  House  of  Parliament  renounced 
its  allegiance,  cashiered  the  Lords,  extinguished  the  epis- 
copacy, and  dethroned  their  King.  The  English  Rebels 
subdued  him ;  the  Scots  betrayed  him ;  conjointly  they 
beheaded  him  ;  but  Ireland  upheld  him.  She  combated 
his  murderers,  and,  as  the  reward  of  loyalty,  she  met  the 
fate  of  Rebels.*  The  wrecks  of  Cromwell's  desolation 
still  appear  scattered  over  every  part  of  Ireland  ;  blood 
that  had  escaped  the  massacres  of  Elizabeth  was  only 
reserved  to  flow  under  the  sword  of  usurpation  ;  and 
Cromwell  has  the  credit  of  having  done  his  business  more 
effectually  than  any  of  his  predecessors.  He  cooped  up 
the  surviving  Irish  in  a  contracted  district,  confined  the 
clergy  nearly  to  one  country,  confiscated  two  thirds  of 

*  So  great  a  hatred  did  the  English  Parliamentarians  entertain  against 
the  Irish  Royalists,  that  they  ordered  "  No  quarter  to  be  given  by  their 
troops  to  Irish  Soldiers."  This  order  was,  for  a  short  time,  strictly  ad- 
hered to ;  but  Prince  Rupert,  on  the  King's  part,  making  retaliation,  thia 
«ost  sanguinary  measure  was  quickly  rescinded. 

19 


8lo  RISK    AND    PALL 

Irish  territory,  and  3tained  his  sanguinary  career  by  indis- 
criminate massacres  in  every  fortress  that  resisted  him. 

Never  was  any  Rebel  so  triumphant  as  he  was  in  Ire- 
land ;  yet  it  is  impossible  to  deny,  that  perhaps  a  less 
decisive  or  less  cruel  general  than  that  splendid  usurper, 
might,  by  lenity  have  increased  the  misery,  in  prolonging 
the  warfare,  and  have  lengthened  out  the  sanguinary 
scenes  of  an  unavailing  resistance.  But  it  is  remarkable 
that  Charles,  the  graceless  son  of  the  decapitated  monarch, 
on  his  restoration,  confirmed  under  his  seal  the  confisca- 
tions against  the  Irish  royalists,  and  actually  regranted 
their  estates  and  territories  to  the  heirs  and  descendants 
of  his  father's  murderers. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  219 


CHAPTER    XIV 

Restoration  of  the  Stuart  dynasty  —  Usurpation  of  William  —  Ireland 
remained  loyal — Comparison  of  the  people — The  revolutionary  prin- 
ciple undefined — The  Irish  treated  as  rebels  by  William  for  their  loy- 
alty to  their  King — Character  of  William  the  Third — Contiuued  op- 
pression and  malgovemmeht  of  Ireland — The  Scotch  and  English 
rebelled — Ireland  remained  tranquil — Comparison  of  the  English  and 
Irish  as  to  their  kings — Ireland  first  infected  by  the  Scotch  and  English 
rebellions — Mr.  Pitt  suppressed  the  spirit  of  insurrection  in  England 
promptly — Suffered  it  to  increase  in  Ireland. 

I.  Ireland  had  now  been  weary  of  bleeding  and  begging 
in  the  cause  of  legitimate  monarchy ;  however,  a  new  ana 
not  less  ruinous  opportunity  soon  occurred  of  again 
proving  the  loyalty,  the  perseverance,  the  fidelity,  but  the 
folly  of  the  Irish  people. 

The  Puritans  had  got  out  of  fashion,  and  trie  Stuarts 
had  been  restored  to  the  British  sceptre.  Charles  the 
Second,  after  a  long  and  shameless  reign,  had  by  his  death, 
ceased  to  disgrace  the  throne  and  stigmatize  the  nation; 
and  England  swore  allegiance  to  his  brother  James,  a3 
her  legitimate  monarch,  so  did  Ireland.  His  English 
subjects  soon  became  disgusted  with  his  administration, 
and  privately  negociated  with  a.  foreign  prince  to  invade 
their  country,  and  dethrone  their  king.  Heedless  of  their 
obligation,  they  renounced  their  allegiance,  recanted  their 
oaths  ;  and,  without  a  trial,  drove  James  from  his  palace, 
and  then  proclaimed  his  throne  empty,  as  if  vacated  by  an 
act  of  voluntary  abdication. 

At  the  head  of  his  foreign  guards,  William,  unequivo- 
cally an  usurper,  marched  into  the  metropolis  of  Great 
Britain,  seized  on  the  throne,  and  occupied  the  royal 
palaces.  The  unnatural  desertion  of  Mary  and  of  Anne 
to  the  prince  who  had  dethroned  their  parent,  exhibited 
to  the  world  (whatever  might  have  been  ihe  political  errors 
of  their  father)  the  most  disgusting  example  of  filial  m 
gratitude,  and  nearly  of  parricide. 


220  RISK    AND    FALL 

Ireland  had  not  as  yet  learned  those  deep  political 
refinements,  the  adoption  of  which  note  gives  constitutional 
sanction  to  the  principle  of  revolution.  That  great 
precedent  was  to  come  from  England  herself.  Ireland 
experienced  not,  or  at  least  had  not  felt,  James's  attempts 
at  despotism,  which  the  English  Commons  had  proclaimed 
to  be  a  forfeiture  of  his  sceptre. 

The  pretence  of  his  voluntary  abdication,  on  which 
England  had  proceeded  to  dethrone  her  king,  had  not 
extended  its  operation  to  Ireland,  nor  even  been  notified 
tc  that  people.  On  the  contrary,  James,  a  monarch  de 
jure  and  de  facto,  expelled  from  one  portion  of  his  empire, 
threw  himself  for  protection  upon  the  faith  and  the 
loyalty  of  another;  and  Ireland  did  not  shrink  from 
affording  that  protection.  She  defended  her  legitimate 
monarch  against  the  usurpation  of  a  foreigner ;  and 
whilst  a  Dutch  guard  possessed  themselves  of  the  British 
capital,  the  Irish  people  remained  firm  and  faithful  to  their 
king  and  fought  against  the  invader. 

In  strict  matter  of  fact,  therefore,  England  became  a 
nation  of  decided  rebels,  and  Ireland  remained  a  country 
of  decided  royalists.  Historic  records  leave  that  point 
beyond  the  power  of  refutation. 

At  the  period  of  James's  expulsion,  even  in  England 
the  right  of  popular  resistance,  and  the  deposition  of  a 
British  monarch,  by  a  simple  vote  of  the  Commons  House 
of  Parliament,  though  exemplified  by  Cromwell,  had  no 
acknowledged  place  in  the  existing  constitution  of  the 
British  empire.  It  was  then  an  unsanctioned  principle  of 
political  polity ;  and  though,  in  theory,  according  with  the 
original  nature  and  essence  of  the  social  compact  between 
the  governor  and  the  governed,  ye*,  of  the  utmost  difficulty 
in  its  constructions,  and  dangerous  In  its  execution.  Even 
now  the  quantity  or  quality  of  arbitrary  acts  and  uncon- 
stitutional practices  which  may  be  deemed  sufficient  to 
put  that  revolutionary  principle  into  operation,  remains 
still  undefined,  and  must,  therefore,  be  a  matter  of  con- 
flicting opinions,  and  of  most  dangerous  investigation ; 
but  it  is  an  open  argument. 

II.  The  representatives  of  the  people  in  the  Commons 
House  of  Parliament  are  incompetent  solely  to  enact  the 
most  unimportant  local  statute ;  it  is  therefore  not  easy 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  J  8ft 

„o  designale  the  cause  and  crisis  which  may  legally  invest 
that  one  branch  of  the  Legislature  with  a  dispensing 
power  as  to  the  others,  or  enable  it  to  erect  itself  into  an 
arbitrary  tribunal,  to  decide  by  its  sole  authority,  questions 
of  revolution.* 

As  to  James,  this  difficulty  was  exemplified.  The 
British  Commons,  and  the  Irish  people,  both  subjects  of 
the  same  king,  entirely  differed  in  their  opinions  as  to 
what  acts,  regal  or  despotic,  could  be  construed  into  vol- 
untary  abdication,  a  point  of  great  importance  as  to 
subsequent  events  which  took  place  in  Ireland. 

III.  James  was  the  hereditary  king  of  both  countries, 
jointly  and  severally.  The  third  constitutional  estate, 
only  of  one  of  them  (England),  had  deposed  him  by  theii 
own  simple  vote  :  but  Ireland  had  never  been  consulted 
upon  that  subject ;  and  the  deposition  of  the  King  of  Ire- 
land by  the  Commons  of  England  could  have  no  para- 
mount authority  in  Ireland,  or  supersede  the  rights,  and 
dispense  with  the  loyalty,  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  The 
Trish  people  had  held  no  treasonable  intercourse  with 
William  ;  they  knew  him  not ;  they  only  knew  that  he 
was  a  foreigner,  and  not  their  legal  prince  ;  that  he  was 


*  Though  the  English  Commons  House  of  Parliament  had  taken 
upon  themselves  to  dethrone  and  decapitate  Charles  the  First,  on  their 
own  sole  authority,  it  will  scarcely  be  contended,  that  Bradshaw  and 
CromweU  established  any  constitutional  precedent  for  a  similar  proceed- 
ing. Yet  the  proceedings  of  the  Commons,  in  James's  case,  though 
more  peaceable,  were  not  more  legal. 

The  vacancy  of  the  English  throne,  and  consequently  the  deposition 
of  James,  was  strongly  con'ested  and  negatived  by  the  House  of  Peers 
of  England.  The  questions  and  divisions  of  the  House  of  Lords  were 
as  follows . — 

For  the  election  of  a  new  king,  51 

Against  the  election  of  any  king,  49 

Majority,  2 

The  next  debate  came  more  to  the  point — "  whether  James  had  broken 
the  original  compact,  and  thereby  made  the  throne  vacant  ?" 
This  was  negatived  by  a  majority  of  2. 

It  thereiore  appears,  that  the  Irish  people  and  the  English  Peers  wer« 
of  the  same  way  of  thinking.  Even  after  James  had  quitted  Ireland  in 
despair,  the  Irish  did  not  relinquish  his  cause,  which  was  finally  termi- 
nated hy  the  gallant  defence  and  ultimate  capitulation  of  Limerick  fof 
the  whole  ol  Ireland. 

IP" 


822  RISE    AND    FALL 

supported  by  a  foreign  power,  and  had  succeeded  by 
foreign  mercenaries.  But  even  if  there  was  a  doubt, 
they  conceived  that  the  most  commendable  conduct  was 
that  of  preserving  entire  their  allegiance  to  the  King,  to 
whom,  in  conjunction  with  England,  they  had  sworn 
fealty.  The  British  Peers  had  showed  them  an  example, 
and  on  that  principle  they  fought  William  as  they  had 
fought  Cromwell :  and  again  they  bled,  and  again  were 
It: n  sd  by  their  adherence  to  legitimate  monarchy.  Mas- 
sacre and  confiscation  again  desolated  their  entire  country, 
and  they  were  treated  by  William  as  rebels  to  a  throne 
which  they  had  never  sanctioned,  and  to  an  usurping 
prince  whom  they  had  always  resisted  ;  at  length,  the 
contest  ended,  and  Ireland  finally  submitted,  not  in  the 
field,  but  by  capitulation. 

The  triumph  of  William  over  the  Irish  Royalists  at  the 
Boyne  and  at  Aughrim,  and  the  deceptious  capitulation 
of  Limerick,  finally  established  William  on  the  throne  of 
both  nations.  Their  results  introduced  into  the  theory 
of  the  British  Constitution,  certain  principles  of  a  regene- 
rating liberty,  which  have  given  it  a  solid  and  decided 
superiority  over  every  other  system  of  Government  as 
yet  devised  by  the  wisdom  of  mankind ;  yet  the  advan- 
tages of  that  constitution  which  England  has  thus  raised 
upon  the  loyalty,  and  completed  upon  the  ruins  of  Ire- 
land, never  were  participated  in  by  the  Irish  people. 

William,  an  able  captain,  a  wise  and  prudent  statesman, 
was  yet  a  gloomy  and  discontented  magistrate  ;  and  had 
in  his  nature  a  portion  of  sulky  despotic  principle,  which 
nothing  but  a  consideration  of  the  mode  in  which  he  had 
acquired  the  English  crown  could  have  restrained  01 
counteracted.  But  as  to  Ireland,  the  case  was  different. 
William  had  been  invited  into  England,  and  he  felt  that 
she  was  his  mistress  ;  but  he  had  fought  for  Ireland,  and 
he  considered  her  as  his  vassal,  and  he  adapted  his  gov- 
ernment to  the  relative  situation  in  which  he  stood  as  to 
the  two  countries. 

The  massacre  of  Mac  John,  his  family  and  clan,  in  the 
valley  of  Glenco,  perpetrated  by  the  especial  order  of 
William,  under  his  sign  manual,  has,  in  point  of  barba- 
rity, treachery  and  injustice,  no  parallel  in  the  annals  of 
Europe.     Its  details   cannot   be  read  without  exciting 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  223 

horror ;  and  while  it  develops  the  cold-blooded  nature  of 
William's  character,  it  accounts  for  much  of  his  conduct 
towards  the  Irish  royalists,  whom  he  called  rebels,  but 
who  owed  him  no  allegiance ;  so  far  as  it  bears  upor  the 
events  of  his  reign  in  Ireland. 

The  result  of  William's  usurpation,  in  the  general  es- 
tablishment of  constitutional  liberty  in  England,  and  the 
principles  of  popular  revolution  which  his  accession  has 
sanctioned  and  confirmed,  have  rendered  the  memory 
of  his  reign  glorious  in  that  country.  But  little  did  he 
foresee  his  restraints  and  disappointments  on  the  throne 
of  England  ;  there  he  felt  his  arbitrary  nature  unexpect- 
edly curbed  and  chained  down  by  the  principles  of  that 
same  liberty,  which  his  own  usurpation  had  originated  : 
and  mortified  by  the  resistance  he  experienced  in  Great 
Britain,  he  lavished  his  redundant  rancour  on  prostrate 
Ireland.  But  had  William  acted  in  Great  Britain  as  he 
did  in  Ireland,  he  would  have  lost  his  throne,  upon  the 
very  same  principles  by  which  he  acquired  it,  and  have 
left  his  own  short  reign  as  an  historic  supplement  to  the 
deposition  of  his  father-in-law. 

IV.  For  nearly  a  century  after  the  capitulation  of 
Limerick  had  been  signed  and  violated  by  William,  Ire- 
land exhibited  a  scene  of  oppression,  suffering  and  pati- 
ence, which  excited  the  wonder  and  commiseration  of 
every  people  of  Europe.  The  inveterate  system  of  Bri- 
tish political  and  commercial  policy  invariably  practised 
against  her  interests,  excluded  all  hopes  of  progressive 
prosperity,  and  if  it  were  possible,  she  must  have  entirely 
retrogaded  to  the  iron  age.  But  even  during  this  state 
of  depression,  it  was  destined  that  Ireland  should  have 
new  touchstones  and  trials  to  assay  her  nature ;  and 
again  be  placed  in  situations  where  her  loyalty  should  be 
proved,  and  again  found  preponderating  in  the  balance 
with  the  loyalty  of  Great  Britain. 

In  1715,  and  in  1745,  the  British  and  Scotch  people 
again  forgot  their  oaths  and  their  allegiance,  and  again 
revolted  in  favour  of  that  very  prince  whom  Ireland  nad 
been  so  ruined  and  stigmatized  for  defending  against 
themselves. 

The  Stuarts  again  claimed  the  aid  of  Ireland.  But 
Ireland,  in  the  interval,  had  sworn  fealty  to  the  House  of 


224  RISE    AND    PALL 

Brunswick  ;  and  Ireland,' though  groaning  under  slaver} 
remained  faithful  to  her  obligation.  Neither  oppression 
no  politics,  nor  religion,  swayed  her  from  the  line  of  hei 
allegiance.  The  noblest  blood  of  Scotland  was  poured 
upon  the  scaffold  ;  the  heads  of  Scottish  Peers  were 
elevated  upon  the  gates  of  London  ;  Britons  in  crowds 
expiated  their  disloyalty  by  the  cord  of  the  executioner  ; 
the  anger  of  offended  Brunswick  fell  with  desolating 
weight  upon  Great  Britain ;  but  through  all  those  bloody 
scenes,  English  ingenuity  could  not  find  a  single  traitor 
to  execute  in  Ireland.  She  preserved  her  loyalty  and 
her  oath,  during  two  rebellions,  but  she  gained  neither 
favour  nor  character  by  that  preservation  ;  and  her  laud- 
able fidelity  was  only  rewarded  by  new  oppressions,  and 
by  the  incessant  calumnies  of  that  same  people  who  had 
seldom  lost  an  opportunity  of  being  themselves  disloyal. 
Tranquil  and  submissive,  though  in  absolute  servitude, 
nearly  one  hundred  years  passed  over  Ireland.  The  great 
population  of  the  trish  nation  continued  to  be  deprived  of 
every  attribute  of  liberty,  civil,  political  and  religious. 

A  few  of  the  Penal  Acts  then  in  force,  or  since  enacted, 
against  Catholics,  were — "  By  7th  William  III?  no  Pro- 
testant in  Ireland  was  allowed  to  instruct  any  Papist. 
"By  8th  of  Anne? 'no  Papist  was  allowed  to  instruct  any 
other  Papist.  "By  7th  William  HIP  no  Papist  was 
permitted  to  be  sent  out  of  Ireland  to  receive  instructions. 

By  these  statutes,  as  the  great  body  of  the  Irish  people 
were  Roman  Catholics,  more  than  nine- tenths  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Ireland  were  legislatively  prohibited  from 
receiving  any  instruction  whatever,  either  from  a  Pro- 
testant or  a  Catholic,  either  at  home  or  abroad,  or  from 
going  out  of  Ireland  to  be  instructed  ;  consequently  the 
darkest  and  most  profound  ignorance  was  enforced  under 
the  severest  penalties  in  Ireland.  How  then  can  the  Irish 
Catholics  admire  the  memory  of  that  prince  who  debased 
them  to  the  level  of  brutes,  that  he  might  retain  them  in 
a  state  of  slavery  1 

Even  so  late  as  the  12th  George  I.  any  Catholic  clergy- 
man marrying  a  Protestant  and  Catholic  was  to  be  hanged. 
"  By  7th  George  IIP  any  barrister  or  attorney  marrying 
a  Catholic,  to  be  disbarred.  "  By  2nd  Anne?  Papist 
cleigymon  coming  into  Ireland,  and  performing  religiou? 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  225 

exercises,  to  be  hanged.  "  By  Sth  Anne"  Fifty  pounds 
re\v  Aid  for  all  informers  against  Catholic  archbishops  and 
vicars-general. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  of  these  Penal  Statutes,  is 
that  of  7th  William  III.  No  Papist  to  ride  any  horse 
worth  more  than  £5.  And  by  9th  George  II  Papists 
residing  in  Ireland,  shall  make  good  to  Protestants  all 
losses  sustained  by  the  privateers  of  any  Catholic  king 
ravaging  the  coasts  of  Ireland. 

29th  George  II.  bai'risters  and  attorneys  obliged  to 
waive  their  privilege,  and  betray  their  clients,  if  Papists. 

Literally  outlaws  in  their  own  country,  labourers  on 
their  own  territory,  they  quarried  on  their  own  demesnes, 
to  raise  palaces  for  the  descendants  of  those  canting 
hypocrites  who  had  massacred  their  monarch,  or  of  the 
foreign  soldiers  of  that  gloomy  and  ambitious  prince, 
who  had  seduced  away  the  loyalty  of  the  children  from 
their  parents,  and  had  occupied  the  throne  of  their  banished 
father. 

V.  If  the  future  is  to  be  judged  by  the  past,  it  will 
probably  continue  to  be  alleged,  that  the  adherence  of 
Ireland  to  her  kings  has  rather  been  the  result  of  her 
religion  than  of  her  loyalty.  That  observation  could  not 
in  any  degree  be  applicable  to  any  reign  but  that  of  James, 
an  imputation,  however,  which  in  its  true  construction, 
general  or  especial,  goes  to  assert,  that  a  connection  of 
loyalty  and  religion  so  cultivated  and  extolled  in  England 
under  the  title  of  "  Church  and  State,"  was  a  crime  of  the 
most  heinous  culpability  when  found  in  Ireland.  But  when 
historic  facts  are  resorted  to,  that  charge  is  retorted  ;  and 
it  will  hardly  be  contended,  that  it  was  more  loyal  and 
meritorious  for  Protestant  subjects  to  murder  their  Pro- 
testant king,  as  they  did  in  England,  than  for  Catholic 
subjects  to  defend  their  Catholic  king,  as  they  did  in 
Ireland.  And  it  will  be  as  difficult  to  defend  the  rebel- 
lions of  1715  and  1745,  raised  by  British  Protestant 
subjects  against  their  Protestant  king,  as  it  will  be  to 
calumniate  the  undeviating,  unshaken  loyalty  of  Catholic 
Ireland  to  her  Protestant  monarchs,  and  the  House  of 
Brunswick,  during  the  same  periods.  But  unfortunately 
these  indisputable  facts  will  form  this  miserable  precedent 
for  future  ages,  that  in  England  the  reward  of  rebellion 


226  RISE    AND    FALL 

was  liberty ;  while  in  Ireland,  the  reward  of  lojalty 
was  bondage. 

The  Irish  insurrection  of  1798,  which  afforded  to  the 
British  minister  the  fatal  and  premeditated  pretext  foT 
annihilating  the  Trish  legislature,  differed  but  little  in  its 
ordinary  events  from  those  numerous  civil  wars,  which 
the  history  of  England,  and  of  every  nation,  so  liberally 
abound  with ;  and  more  especially  with  those  which 
desolated  some  of  the  finest  countries  of  Europe  about  the 
same  period,  the  contagion  of  which  had  been  imported 
from  England  herself  where  the  overthrow  of  the  con- 
stitution had  been  planned,  and  the  murder  of  the  King 
attempted,  before  Ireland  had  been  infected. 

But  it  was  reserved  for  the  recorders  of  that  sanguinary 
contest  in  Ireland,  with  motives  not  less  mischievous  than 
those  of  the  insurgents,  to  raise  by  their  misrepresentation 
a  permanent  standard  of  enmity  between  the  two  nations, 
and  endeavour  to  persuade  one  portion  of  the  empire,  that 
its  safety  was  altogether  incompatible  with  the  indepen- 
dence and  prosperity  of  the  other. 

Were  the  leading  authors  of  these  absurd  and  dangerous 
doctrines,  confined  solely  to  the  hired  traducers  or  fac- 
tionists  of  that  country,  their  histories  and  their  fabrica- 
tions would  sink,  together  with  their  names,  into  obscurity. 
But  when  persons  of  the  superior  orders  in  Great  Britain 
lent  their  weight,  their  zeal,  and  their  reason  to  the  pur- 
poses of  their  bigotry  and  their  prejudices,  and  attempted 
to  impose  upon  the  credulity  of  their  countrymen  with  the 
same  facility  that  they  had  been  imposed  upon  themselves, 
as  to  the  native  disloyalty  of  the  Irish  people,  it  becomes 
just,  if  not  necessary,  to  recall  their  recollection  to 
the  affairs  and  records  of  their  own  country  at  the 
same  epoch:  a  reference  to  which,  if  it  cannot  check  the 
fanaticism,  may  at  least  diminish  the  authority  of  the 
fanatics. 

Though  in  fact  a  digression,  it  maybe  here  not  improper 
to  follow  up  that  subject  a  little  further,  by  anticipating 
some  observations  more  connected  with  a  subsequent  part 
of  this  memoir. 

^1.  When  it  pleased  Heaven,  during  the  French  Revo. 
lui ion,  to  inflict  a  temporary  derangement  on  the  reason 
of  rainkind,  a  spirit  of  wild  democracy,  under  the  mask 


OF    THE    IRISH     NATION.  227 

of  liberty,  appeared  in  fanciful  forms  to  seduce  away  01 
destroy  the  peace,  the  morality,  the  order,  and  the  alle- 
giance of  every  European  people.  It  would  have  been 
more  than  a  phenomenon,  if  too  sensitive  and  ardent 
Ireland  had  escaped  that  general  fever,  from  which  the 
boasted  constitution  of  England,  and  the  steady  character 
of  Scotland,  had  been  unable  to  protect  them.  The  Ca- 
tholic in  the  South,  the  Presbyter  in  the  North,  the  Pro- 
testant in  the  metropolis  of  Ireland,  and  the  professors  of 
every  religion  in  England  and  in  Scotland,  became  more 
or  less  infuriated  by  the  general  delirium.  That  conta- 
gion which  so  vitally  affected  the  nations  of  Europe, 
originating  in  France,  soon  displayed  its  symptoms  in 
every  part  of  Great  Britain;  and  when  in  progress  to 
full  maturity,  and  not  before,  was  carried  into  Ireland  by 
collision  with  the  English  and  Scots  republicans.* 

Religion  could  have  but  little  influence  on  the  projects 
•md  politics  of  that  era,  for  the  total  extinction  of  all 
religion  was  a  fundamental  principle  of  that  foreign  revo- 
lution, which  gave  birth  to  a  democracy  that  sought  to 
overturn  every  throne  and  constitution  of  Europe.  Yet 
the  calumniators  of  Ireland  place  that  spirit  of  insurrec- 
tion almost  exclusively  to  the  credit  of  religion  amongst 
the  Irish  people,  because  the  population  of  Ireland,  was 
chiefly  composed  of  Catholics  whom  they  stigmatized. 

At  that  period,  Ireland  had  a  resident  Legislature  and 
a  free  constitution.  She  was  in  profound  tranquillity,  and 
the  most  progressive  state  of  national  prosperity,!  when 

*  See  the  state  trials  and  the  reports  of  the  Secret  Committee  of  Eng- 
land, in  the  year  1794. 

By  these  reports  of  the  Secret  Committee,  it  appears  that  Edinburgh, 
and  various  other  places  in  England  and  Scotland,  were  infected  long 
before  Ireland ;  and  Mr.  Secretary  Dundas  Illustrated  these  reports  by 
annexing  accurate  drawings  ot  the  different  forms  of  pikes,  battle-axes, 
&c,  which  were  fabricated  in  Scotland,  his  own  country,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  treason  and  murder.  Ireland  did  not  appear  to  Mr.  Pitt  forward 
enough  in  treason  with  the  kingdom  under  his  more  immediate  manage- 
ment, and  therefore  sent  over  Lord  Fitzwilliam  to  Ireland,  to  ensure  tran- 
quillity: and  when  his  Lordship  was  on  the  point  of  doing  so,  ordered 
him  back  again  to  excite  insurrection. — See  Lord  Fit z William's  letters:  to 
Lord  Carlisle. 

f  When  Lord  Westmoreland  was  removed  from  Ireland,  in  1795,  Ire- 
land was  in  a  most  unexampled  and  progressive  state  of  general  prosper- 
t/.     In  that  year,  Mr.  Curran  informed  the  Author  of  his  intention  to 


RISE    AND    FALL 

the  emissaries  ^f  the  English  and  Scotch  societies  quiv  &>y 
proceeded  to  pervert  her  reason,  as  their  own  had  been 
perverted,  The  original  societies  of  Ireland  had  no  such 
principles  as  designated  the  latter  ones.  The  Minister, 
Mr.  Pitt,  had  made  his  entrance  into  public  life  in  the 
domino  of  a  Reformer.  The  first  and  most  loyal  noble- 
men, and  commoners  in  Ireland  were  Reformers ;  but  it 
was  through  the  prospective  policy  of  that  great  Minister, 
that  the  seeds  of  insurrection  were  permitted  to  take  root 
in  Ireland :  without  it  a  union  had  never  been  accom- 
plished. 

VII.  In  England,  the  Government  took  prompt  and 
vigorous  measures  to  stop  the  progress  of  that  dangerous 
and  destructive  principle  ;  but  in  Ireland  they  coolly  saw 
the  weed  springing  up,  and  artfully  forced  it  to  premature 
maturity.  They  watched  its  growth  till  it  had  covered 
sufficient  of  the  country  to  bewilder  the  residue.  Its  vege- 
tation was  cautiously  permitted  to  proceed,  whilst  there 
remained  within  their  own  reach  sufficient  means  of  sup- 
pressing it  at  their  discretion ;  and  this  deep  and  trea- 
cherous experiment  was  risked  to  effect  the  greatest  object 
of  Mr.  Pitt's  administration,  a  final  extinguishment  of 
Irish  independence. 

With  that  view,  it  was  expedient  to  suffer  that  country 
to  plunge  itself  into  a  state  of  sanguinary  civil  warfare, 
of  terrors  and  of  animosities ;  whilst  England  should  hold 
the  reigns  which  could  check  its  progress,  and  might  falla- 
ciously induce  it,  by  the  hopes  of  English  protection,  to 
exchange  a  constitutional  independence  for  a  speculative 
tranquillity,  or  render  it  so  feeble  and  so  divided  by  a 

suggest  an  impeachment  against  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland,  for  having 
permitted  a  part  of  12,000  troops  (which,  according  to  stipulation,  should 
always  remain  in  Ireland)  to  be  drafted  out  of  that  kingdom  for  foreigD 
service 

Mr.  Curran  laughed  at  his  own  project,  when  the  Author  asked  him 
what  plausible  reason  he  could  give  for  saying  that  any  troops  were 
necessary. 

The  day  Lord  Westmoreland  departed,  no  army  was  necessary  in  Ire- 
land ;  and  if  Earl  Fitzwilliam  had  not  been  removed,  doubtless  insurrec- 
tion might  have  been  prevented.  But  tranquillity  would  not  have  effect- 
ed Mr.  Pitt's  purposes :  and  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  one  of  the  best  and  honest- 
eel  of  the  British  peerage,  was  appointed,  duped,  and  deposed  by  the 
fniicy  of  the  Minister ;  the  reason  was  obvious 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  229 

continuation  of  internal  contests,  that  it  could  not  be  se- 
duced, it  might  be  compelled,  to  annexation. 

And  here  lies  the  secret  spring  which  regulated  the 
insurrection  of  1798,  and  the  machinery  which  moved  the 
Union  in  1800,  a  measure  which,  for  the  thirty-two  years 
succeeding  its  accomplishment,  has  only  operated  as  a 
ruin  to  the  annexed,  and  a  torment  to  the  annexing  nation. 
Recorded  abstracts  of  Irish  and  of  British  history  thus 
form  an  incontrovertible  exposition  of  Irish  principles, 
and  of  English  misconception.  The  character  of  the  Irish 
people  has  been  always  calumniated,  their  independence 
has  been  torn  away,  but  their  indigenous  loyalty  is  un- 
affected, their  nation  is  monarchical,  they  naturally  love 
kings,  the  tradition  of  their  old  monarchs  keeps  up  the 
attachment ;  and  never  was  a  greater  injustice  done  to 
any  people,  than  to  call  them  democratic.  But  immortality 
of  power  is  not  an  attribute  of  nations,  like  man,  they 
nourish  ;  but  like  man,  they  must  decay.  Rome  had  her 
glory  and  her  power,  but,  subdued  by  time,  she  yielded 
up  her  empire  ;  and  should  some  Gibbon  of  future  ages 
record  the  decline  and  fall  of  British  greatness,  the  his- 
torian will  probably  do  justice  to  Ireland ;  and  tell  pos- 
terity, that  when  some  gigantic  foreign  power,  nurtured 
by  British  folly,  for  British  subjugation,  had  paralyzed 
her  resources,  and  decolonized  her  empire,  England,  in  the 
last  struggles  of  her  superiority,  had  not  a  faithful  ally 
left  to  cover  her  remains,  but  her  calumniated*  sister. 

*  This  observation  will  not  be  considered  altogether  visionary,  when 
men  reflect  upon  the  modern  events  of  Europe,  and  the  possible  conse 
quences  of  that  extravagant  and  ruinous  system  which  had  been  adopt 
ed,  of  blindly  subsidizing  and  strengthening  every  foreign  power  at  the 
expense  of  the  British  treasury.  Russia,  Prussia,  Austria,  Portugal; 
but  above  all,  Spain,  owe  their  present  independent  political  existence 
to  the  blood  and  the  treasure  of  Great  Britain  and  of  Ireland,  levied  fc* 
their  use,  and  lavished  for  their  protection. 

And  miserably  is  England  requited  for  her  protection,  her  money,  and 
hei  sacrifices .  and  miserably  has  Ireland  been  requited  for  her  participnc 
fen 


130  RISE    AND    FALL 


CHAPTER    XV. 

Catholic  relaxation  Bills  opposed  by  Mr.  Rowley — Sir  Edward  Newen* 
enham — Doctor  Patrick  Duigenam — His  Character — Mr.  Ogle — Bills 
passed — Unjust  doctrine — Change  in  the  Irish  Parliament — Mr.  Fox's 
candour — His  speech — Deception  of  the  British  Government  devel- 
oped—  Marquis  of  Rockingham — Total  absence  of  energy  —  Mi 
Burke — Inactive  as  to  Ireland — New  debates — Embarrassing  conse- 
quences of  Mr.  Grattan's  address — Mr.  Grattan's  motion  objectionable 
— Mr.  Flood's  reply — Unfortunate  collision  of  Grattan  and  Flood — 
Mr.  Grattan's  fallacious  motion — Mr.  Flood's  reply — Mr.  Montgo- 
mery moves  to  build  an  Irish  navy — Negatived — Parliament  pro- 
rogued— Most  important  session — Moderation  of  Ireland — Duke  of 
1  ortland's  hypocritical  speech 

I.  We  now  return  to  the  measures  which  were  taken  to 
roc'v  Ireland  into  a  slumber  more  fatal  to  her  existence 
than  the  trance  she  had  awakened  from.  Bills  to  ameli- 
orate by  partial  concession  the  depressed  state  of  the 
Catholics,  as  some  reward  for  their  zeal  and  patriotism, 
wei  e  introduced,  and  had  arrived  at  their  last  stages  in 
the  House  of  Commons  without  any  effective  opposition ; 
intolerance,  however,  even  to  the  extent  of  fanaticism,  had 
so  identified  itself  with  the  minds  of  some  members  of 
both  Houses  of  Parliament,  that  these  Bills  of  partial 
relief  to  their  enslaved  countrymen  were  strenuously  op- 
posed, in  their  latter  stages,  by  statements  so  exaggerated, 
and  language  so  aggravating,  that  a  cry  of  "  Danger  to 
Church  and  State ! "  was  raised  and  circulated,  and  ac- 
tually bewildered  the  intellect  of  many,  who  were  on 
other  occasions  of  reasonable  judgment. 

These  Bills  were  clamorously  opposed  in  Parliament 
by  several  country  gentlemen  of  high  local  consideration, 
and  principally  by  Mr.  Rowley,  member  for  Meath  County, 
one  of  the  best  landlords  and  best  men  in  Ireland,  a 
downright,  honest,  headstrong  country  gentleman.  His 
information  was  scant,  and  his  abilities  were  less  than 
modeiate ;  but  he  was  of  large  fortune,  splendid  establish- 
ment unbounded  hospitality,  and  full  of  philanthropy 


I. Lard,  Edward  Fitzgerald/.        4.Lord  Gastlerecuph  . 
Z.WUMam  Coroiyrighean/ Pbxnket/.  5.  John    Egari/. 
3 Charles  Kendal  Bushes.  6.Doctvr  Patrick  Daupienan 

7.Sir  Laurence  Parsons. 


;y-,  PixblisTie: .  York. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  231 

yet  so  perverted  was  his  mind  by  legendary  tales,  and 
hereditary  prejudices,  that  though  he  most  generously 
afforded  to  his  Catholic  tenantry,  and  to  individual  Catho- 
lics, every  service  and  kindness  in  his  power,  he  consi- 
dered and  represented  them,  collectively,  as  a  body  of 
demons;  their  chapels,  temples  of  idolatry;  their  schools, 
seminaries  of  rebellion,  and  their  clergy  as  a  gang  of 
necromancers. 

So  infatuated  was  he  by  these  prepossessions,  that  he 
saw,  or  rather  fancied  that  he  saw,  in  any  relaxation  of 
the  penal  statutes,  nothing  but  a  total  overthrow  of  the 
entire  Protestant  establishment,  and  an  immediate  revo- 
lution in  favour  of  some  Popish  monarch. 

Those  Bills  were  also  pertinaciously  opposed  by  Sii 
Edward  Newenham,  member  for  Dublin  County,  a  weak, 
busy,  narrow-minded,  but  not  ill  informed,  nor  ill-inten 
tioned  person.  He  was  very  defective  in  talent,  but  very 
confident  that  he  possessed  much  of  it ;  he  fancied  he  was 
a  great  patriot,  and  was  disposed  to  imagine  himself  a 
distinguished  personage.  He  had  drawn  General  Wash- 
ington into  a  short  literary  correspondence  with  himself 
as  to  Ireland,  on  the  strength  of  which,  he  affected,  with 
great  importance,  to  be  an  importer  of  the  most  early  and 
authentic  information  from  America. 

He  was  an  active  officer  of  the  Volunteer  Artillery,  and 
a  good  Irishman ;  but  a  busy,  buzzing,  useless,  intermed- 
dling member  of  Parliament,  and  one  of  the  most  credu- 
lous, feeble,  and  fanatical  of  all  the  Irish  intolerants. 

Many  inveterate  opponents  of  any  concessions  to  ihe 
Catholics  made  their  appearance  in  the  [rish  Parliament ; 
and  as  the  concerns  of  that  body  must  form  a  prominent 
topic  in  the  progress  of  this  memoir,  it  may  be  interesting 
and  useful  to  introduce,  even  by  anticipation,  the  most 
distinguished  of  its  opponents. 

This  celebrated  antagonist  of  the  Irish  Catholics,  so 
far  as  invective  and  declamation  could  affect  their  interests, 
was  Doctor  Patrick  Duigenam,  Judge  of  the  Prerogative 
Court  of  Ire'and;  a  man  whose  name  must  survive  so 
long  as  the  feuds  of  Ireland  shall  be  remembered,  and 
whose. singular  conduct,  on  many  points,  was  of  a  nature 
so  inconsistent  and  irregular  that,  even  now,  when  h» 
race  is  run,  and  no  further  traits  of  his  character  can  ever 


RISE    AND    FALL 

be  developed,  it  is  yet  impossible  to  decide  with  certainty 
as  to  his  genuine  principles,  if  such  he  possessed,  upon 
any  one  subject,  religious  or  political. 

His  father  was  parish-clerk  of  St.  Werburgh's  Church. 
Dublin,  but  in  what  part  of  Ireland  he  originated,  is  still 
uncertain  ;  he  was  educated  in  the  Parish  School,  and  (as 
he  told  the  Author  himself)  was  humourously  christened 
Paddy,  having  been  born  on  St.  Patrick's  day.  He  sig- 
nalized himself  as  a  scholar  in  the  University  of  Dublin, 
of  which  he  was  chosen  a  fellow ;  he  soon  afterwards 
quarrelled  with  the  Provost,  Mr.  Hutchinson,  and  every 
person  who  did  not  coincide  with  his  humours,  and  wrote 
a  number  of  severe  pamphlets,  of  which  "  Lachrymal 
Academical  and  " Pranceriana"  are  the  most  notable; 
the  first,  personally  against  the  conduct  of  the  Provost 
and  Sir  Sohn  Blaquiere ;  the  second,  on  a  proposal  of  the 
Provost's  to  establish  a  riding  house  for  the  students. 
He  was  always  at  open  war  with  some  person,  during  the 
whole  course  of  his  public  life. 

He  left  the  University,  retaining  the  office  of  Law  Pro- 
fessor ;  was  shortly  afterwards  appointed  King's  Counsel ; 
Judge  of  the  Prerogative  and  Consistory  Courts ;  King's 
Advocate  to  the  High  Court  of  Admiralty;  one  of  Lord 
Castlereagh's  Commissioners  for  bribing  Members  of 
Parliament ;  (Post;)  and  to  many  other  public  offices, 
most  of  which  he  retained  to  his  death.  His  income  was 
very  large,  and  he  must  have  privately  done  many  liberal 
and  charitable  acts,  because  he  was  not  extravagant,  and 
left  no  considerable  fortune  behind  him. 

Dr.  Duigenam  having  been  King's  Advocate  to  the 
High  Court  of  Admiralty,  where  the  Author  presided ; 
and  the  Author  being  a  Doctor  of  Laws,  and  Advocate  in 
the  Court  of  Prerogative,  of  which  Dr.  Duigenam  was 
Judge,  their  intercourse  was  constant  and  very  intimate 
for  many  years,  and  the  Author  had  daily  private  oppor- 
tunities of  observing  the  curious  habits  of  this  most  eccen- 
tric character ;  the  most  outrageous,  and  at  the  same 
time  one  of  the  best  natured  men  in  the  world,  to  those 
whom  he  regarded. 

This  eccentric  person,  whose  celebrity  originated  from 
his  crusades  for  Protestant  supremacy,  would  probably 
have  been  a  conspicuous  character  in  whatever  station  h» 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  233 

might  have  been  placed,  or  in  whatevei  profession  he 
might  have  adopted.  Incapable  of  moderation  upon  any 
subject,  he  possessed  too  much  vigorous  and  active  in- 
tellect to  have  passed  through  life  an  unsignalized  spec- 
tator ;  and  if  he  had  not  at  an  early  period  enlisted  as  a 
champion  of  Luther,  it  is  more  than  probable  he  would, 
with  equal  zeal  and  courage,  have  borne  the  standard  for 
St.  Peter's  followers.  A  hot,  rough,  intrepid,  obstinate 
mind,  strengthened  by  very  considerable  erudition,  and 
armed  by  a  memory  of  the  most  extraordinary  retention, 
contributed  their  attributes  equally  to  his  pen,  and  his 
speeches. 

He  considered  invective  as  the  first,  detail  as  the  second, 
and  decorum  as  the  last  quality  of  a  public  orator ;  and 
he  never  failed  to  exemplify  these  principles. 

A  partisan  in  his  very  nature,  every  act  of  his  life  was 
influenced  by  invincible  prepossessions ;  a  strong  guard 
of  inveterate  prejudices  were  sure,  on  all  subjects,  to  keep 
moderation  at  a  distance,  and  occasionally  prevented  even 
common  reason  from  obtruding  on  his  dogmas,  or  inter 
rupting  his  speeches. 

A  mingled  strain  of  boisterous  invective,  unlimited 
assertion,  rhapsody  and  reasoning,  erudition  and  ignorance, 
were  alike  perceptible  in  his  writings  and  orations ;  yet 
there  were  few  of  either,  from  which  a  dispassionate  com- 
piler might  not  have  selected  ample  materials  for  an  able 
production. 

He  persuaded  himself  that  he  was  a  true  fanatic ;  but 
though  the  world  gave  him  full  credit  for  his  practical 
intolerance,  there  were  many  exceptions  to  the  consis- 
tency of  his  professions,  and  many  who  doubted  his  theo- 
retic sincerity.  His  intolerance  was  too  outrageous  to  be 
honest,  and  too  unreasonable  to  he  sincere ;  and  whenever 
his  Protestant  extravagance  appeared  to  have  even  one 
moment  of  a  lucid  interval,  it  was  immediately  predicted 
that  he  would  die  a  Catholic. 

His  politics  could  not  be  termed  either  uniform  or  co- 
herent. He  had  a  latent  spark  of  independent  spirit  in 
his  composition,  which  the  minister  sometimes  found  it 
difficult  to  extinguish,  and  dangerous  to  explode.  He  had 
the  same  respect  for  a  Protestant  bishop  that  he  would 
probably  have  had  for  a  Catholic  cardinal.     EpiscoDacy 

20* 


834  RISE    AND    FALL 

was  his  .standard  ;  and  when  he  showed  symptoms  of  run 
ning  restive  to  the  Government,  the  primate  of  Ireland 
was  called  in  to  be  the  pacificator. 

He  held  a  multiplicity  of  public  offices  at  the  same 
time,  unconnected  with  Government.*  He  was  Vicar 
General  to  most  of  the  bishops  ;  and  whenever  he  con- 
ceived the  rights  of  the  Church  were  threatened,  his 
bristles  instantly  arose,  as  it  were,  by  instinct ;  his  tusks 
were  bared  for  combat  ;  he  moved  forward  for  battle  ; 
and  would  have  shown  no  more  mercy  to  the  Govern- 
ment than  he  would  have  done  to  the  patriots. 

He  injured  the  reputation  of  Protestant  ascendency  by 
his  extravagant  support  of  the  most  untenable  of  its  prin- 
ciples. He  served  the  Catholics  by  the  excess  of  his  ca- 
lumnies, and  aided  their  claims  to  amelioration,  by  per- 
sonifying that  virulent  sectarian  intolerance  which  was 
the  very  subject  of  their  grievances. 

He  had,  however,  other  traits,  which  frequently  dis- 
closed qualities  of  a  very  superior  description.  His  tongue 
and  his  actions  were  constantly  at  variance ;  he  was  hos- 
pitable and  surly;  sour  and  beneficent ;  prejudiced  and 
liberal ;  friendly  and  inveterate.  His  bad  qualities  he  ex- 
posed without  reserve  to  the  public ;  his  good  ones  he 
husbaaded  for  private  intercourse.  Many  of  the  former 
were  fictitious  ;  all  the  latter  were  natural.  He  *ras  an 
honest  man,  with  an  outrageous  temper  and  perverted 
judgment ;  and,  as  if  he  conceived  that  right  was  wrong, 
he  sedulously  endeavoured  to  conceal  his  philanthropy 
under  the  garb  of  a  misanthrope. 

In  private  society,  he  was  often  the  first  in  conviviality ; 
and  when  his  memory,  his  classic  reading,  and  his  mis- 

*  On  the  Union,  he  accepted  the  office  of  Commissioner  for  paying  the 
ftribes  to  Members  of  Parliament  (under  the  name  of  compensation  foi 
the  loss  of  their  Seats  or  Patronage.)     (Vide  Post.) 

The  Doctor,  the  late  Lord  Annesley,  and  a  Mr.  Jameson,  an  English- 
man, under  this  commission,  distributed,  by  Lord  Castlereagh's  appoint- 
ment, ONE  MILLION  FIVE  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  POUNDS  of  the  Irish  money, 

amongst  Members  of  the  Houses  of  Lords  and  Commons;  without 
which  bribes  and  gifts  of  peerages,  there  would  be  a  vast  majority 
against  the  Union.  The  Doctor  told  the  Author  that  he  accepted  thai 
office,  solely  that  he  might  be  able  to  take  care  of  the  bishops;  and  tb« 
Author  believes  at  least  half  his  assertion.  But  the  v/'shops  were  out 
witted. 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  235 

reiianeous  mfoi  mat  ion  were  turned  to  the  purposes  ot 
humour  or  of  anecdote,  they  gave  a  quaint,  joyous,  ao 
centric  cast  to  his  conversation,  highly  entertaining  to 
strangers,  and  still  more  so  to  those  accustomed  to  the 
display  of  his  versatilities. 

The  most  striking  singularity  of  this  most  singular 
man,  was  his  unaccountable  inconsistency  in  words  and 
actions  toward  the  Catholic  community.  He  alternately 
fostered  and  abused,  caressed  and  calumniated,  many  in- 
timates of  that  persuasion  ;  an  inconsistency,  however, 
which  his  last  matrimonial  connection  was  supposed  to 
have  redeemed ;  and  he  died  at  a  very  advanced  age, 
upon  a  short  notice,  retaining  all  his  strength  and  facul- 
ties, and  in  the  full  vigour  of  all  his  prejudices. 

His  strong,  sturdy  person,  and  coarse,  obstinate,  dog- 
matic, intelligent  countenance,  indicated  many  of  his 
characteristic  qualities.  He  was  too  rough  and  too  un- 
accommodating to  have  had  many  partisans  ;  and  after 
the  Union  which  he  vigorously  supported,  his  public  im- 
portance and  reputation  dwindled  away  to  nothing  ;  and 
his  death  afforded  no  great  cause  of  regret,  to  his  friends, 
or  of  gratification  to  his  enemies. 

Mr.  George  Ogle,  and  many  other  decided  opponents 
of  the  Catholic  claims,  were  also  prominent  characters  in 
the  general  affairs  and  politics  of  the  country,  and  will 
appear  in  most  of  the  miscellaneous  transactions  of  the 
Irish  Parliament.  But  the  whole  bent  and  efforts  of  the 
Doctor's  mind  and  actions  were  concentrated  and  publicly 
arrayed  against  the  Catholic  community,  some  members  of 
which  were  in  private  his  chief  associates,  and  his  nearest 
connections,  and  the  early  introduction  of  such  a  personage 
may  tend  to  illustrate  the  singular  situation  of  that  body, 
and  that  inconsistency  which  from  first  to  last  has  sig- 
nalized the  conduct  both  of  their  friends  and  their 
enemies. 

Those  Bills  relaxing  the  severity  of  the  penal  code 
passed,  however,  through  both  Houses,  without  any  con- 
siderable difficulty ;  and,  though  the  concessions  were 
very  limited,  they  afforded  great  satisfaction  to  the  Ca- 
tholic body,  as  the  first  growth  of  a  tolerating  principle, 
which  they  vainly  imagined  was  a  sure  precursor  of  that 
general  religious  and  political  freedom,  without  which,  in 


836  RISK    ANI>    FALL 

an  ardent  and  divided  population,  peace  and  security 
must  ever  be  precarious. 

Some  men,  hoAvever,  saw  in  those  incipient  concessions 
the  germ  of  discord  and  extravagant  expectation.  The 
most  unrelenting  of  their  opponents,  in  the  full  zeal  of 
unqualified  fanaticism,  used  arguments  so  cruel  and  un- 
just in  principle,  that  the  distorted  mind,  or  crooked  pol- 
icy of  legislators  alone  could  have  resorted  to. 

They  argued,  that  the  nearly  insupportable  oppressions 
under  which  the  Irish  Catholics  had  so  long  laboured, 
were  rapidly  disgusting  them  with  their  own  tenets, 
which  had  entailed  upon  them  all  the  attributes  of  slav- 
ery and  deprivation ;  that,  worn  down  by  penal  codes, 
under  the  pressure  of  which  they  could  neither  rise  nor 
prosper,  they  were  daily  recanting  those  disqualifying 
tenets,  and  embracing  that  religion,  under  which  their 
wants  and  their  ambition  could  be  fully  gratified  ;  that 
noblemen,  gentlemen,  peasants,  and  even  their  priests, 
were  rapidly  embracing  the  Protestant  profession  ;  and 
that  if  the  same  propensity  to  recantation  was  still  kept 
in  progress,  by  a  full  and  strict  continuance  of  that  same 
penal  code,  the  severity  of  which  had  originally  caused  it, 
Ireland  would  gradually  acquire  a  protestant  population, 
if  not  a  majority  of  the  people,  at  least  more  than  a  pro- 
portion of  all  whose  property,  rank,  and  interest  would 
lead  them  tc  preserve  the  peace  of  the  nation  and  the 
connection  with  Great  Britain. 

II.  This  was  a  barbarous  doctrine,  which  could  never 
be  supported  by  any  principle  either  of  justice  or  of  policy. 
The  principle  of  concession  which  actuated  the  Parlia- 
ment in  these  relaxations,  proved  that  the  light  of  justice 
and  reason  had  broken  in  upon  them,  and  excited  reason- 
able expectations  of  further  grants  and  general  toleration. 

The  wealth  of  the  Catholics  multiplied,  their  numbers 
increased.  The  first  chain  of  intolerance  was  loosened, 
and  permitted  them  to  take  a  view  of  that  total  emanci- 
pation which  by  unremitting  struggles  they  were  certain 
of  attaining. 

III.  The  paroxysms  of  ardent  patriotism  having  some- 
what abated  in  the  Irish  Parliament,  distinctions  and 
shades  of  distinctions  were  rising  and  re-opening  into 
party,  and  into  jealousies.     Some  men  conceived  that 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  237 

Ireland  had  obtained  every  thing,  others  argued  that  she 
had  acquired  no  securities,  that  enthusiastic  unanimity 
which  had  so  proudly  signalized  their  first  movements 
was  gradually  degenerating,  the  old  courtiers,  who  had 
wandered  from  their  standards,  seized  greedily  upon  every 
pretence  to  re-assume  their  stations  ;  and  many  of  that 
body,  who  a  moment  before  had  been  unanimous,  and 
supposed  to  be  incorruptible,  now  began  to  remember 
themselves,  and  forget  their  country ;  but  the  people  were 
staunch,  their  spirit  was  invincible,  the  voice  of  the  volun- 
teers was  raised  it  was  loud  and  clear,  and  echoed  through 
the  Parliament.  The  Government  was  arrested  in  its 
corrupting  progress ;  many  were  recalled  to  a  sense  of 
duty  by  a  sense  of  danger,  and  the  situation  of  the  coun- 
try seemed  approaching  to  another  ci'isis. 

Mr.  Grattan  acted  on  the  purest  patriotic  principles, 
but  they  were  over  moderated  by  Earl  Charlemont,  and 
occasionally  neutralized  by  an  honourable  confidence  in 
Whig  sincerity.  He  still  contended  (because  such  was 
nis  conviction)  that  the  Irish  Nation  should  rest  satisfied, 
and  confide  in  the  sincerity  of  the  British  Ministry,  and 
the  existing  guarantees,  for  the  permanence  of  their  con- 
stitution. He  was  devoted  to  the  Whigs,  because  they 
professed  the  purest  principles  of  well-regulated  liberty ; 
and  he  would  not  doubt  the  integrity  of  those  whose  prin- 
ciples he  had  adopted,  till  at  length  Mr.  Fox  himself, 
wearied  by  a  protracted  course  of  slow  deception,  uncon- 
genial either  to  the  proud  impetuosity  of  his  great  mind, 
or  the  natural  feelings  of  his  open  temper,  at  once  con- 
firmed the  opinions  of  the  Irish  people,  and  openly  pro- 
claimed to  Ireland  the  inadequacy  of  all  the  measures  that 
had  theretofore  been  adopted.  He  took  occasion  in  the 
British  Parliament,  on  the  repeal  of  the  sixth  of  George 
the  First,  being  there  alluded  to,  to  state,  "  that  the  repeal 
of  that  Statute  could  not  stand  alone,  but  must  be  accom- 
panied by  a  final  adjustment,  and  by  a  solid  basis  of  per- 
manent connection."  He  said  "  that  some  plans  of  that 
nature  would  be  laid  before  the  Irish  Parliament  by  the 
Irish  Ministers,  and  a  treaty  entered  upon,  which  treaty 
when  proceeded  on,  might  be  adopted  by  both  Parlia- 
ments and  finally  become  an  irrevocable  arrangement 
between  the  two  countries." 


238  RISE    AND    FALL 

By  that  short,  but  most  important  speech,  the  Irish 
delusion  of  a  final  adjustment  was  in  a  moment  dissipated, 
the  Viceroy's  duplicity  became  indisputably  proved ;  His 
Majesty's  reply  to  the  Irish  Parliament  was  renounced  by 
the  very  minister  who  had  written  it.  The  Irish  addrcsa 
to  the  Duke  of  Portland  appeared  to  have  been  premature 
and  inconsiderate;  and  his  reply  could  no  longer  be 
defended  on  the  grounds  either  of  its  truth  or  its  sin- 
cerity. Mr.  Fox  himself,  with  the  true  candour  of  an  able 
statesman,  avowed  the  insufficiency  of  the  existing  arrange- 
ment ;  and  thus,  by  easy  inferences,  decided  against  the 
adequacy  of  the  simple  repeal  for  general  purposes.  His 
declaration,  that  "  a  further  treaty  was  in  contemplation," 
was  prospective  and  ambiguous,  and  gave  not  only  plau- 
sible but  justifiable  grounds,  for  an  alarming  uneasiness 
amongst  the  Irish  people. 

Notwithstanding  this  avowal,  Mr.  Flood  was  still  but 
feebly  supported  in  the  House  of  Commons.  The  Volun- 
teers, rather  than  the  Parliament,  had  now  the  prepon- 
derance in  public  estimation,  and  their  activity  increased 
as  difficulties  augmented. 

In  England  public  matters  were  sinking  into  a  state  of 
languor  and  torpidity.  The  Marquis  of  Rockingham,  in  a 
fatally  declining  state  of  health,  and  his  friend  Lord  Char- 
lemont,  in  an  habitually  complaining  one,  carried  on  a 
well-bred,  superficial,  whining  correspondence,  as  to  the 
affairs  of  Ireland,  every  thing  that  was  courteous,  but 
nothing  that  was  statesmanlike ;  and  even  if  death  had  not 
unfortunately  for  the  Whigs,  snatched  away  Lord  Rock- 
ingham, he  and  the  Earl  of  Charlemont  were  not  likely 
to  effect  the  consummation  of  the  political  arrangements 
between  the  two  nations.  The  latter  nobleman  could  see 
wide,  but  he  could  not  see  deep.  The  former  couid 
neither  see  very  wide,  nor  very  deep,  but  he  could  see 
very  distinctly;  in  cultivating  moderation,  they  lost  sight 
of  energy,  and  their  conduct  at  this  moment  was  shallow 
and  insfpid. 

Mr.  Burke  might  have  been  sincere  towards  Ireland : 
but  he  had  a  game  to  play  at  for  himself;  and  his  talents, 
however  great  in  their  extent,  were  not  found  so  consistent 
in  their  application.  And  though  his  fame  never  can  be 
eclipsed,   his   abilities   never    depreciated;    though    his 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  239 

lessons  will  be  ever  instructive,  and  the  vigour  of  his 
intellect  could  not  be  vanquished,  still  he  had  his  trances, 
his  visions,  and  his  theories;  and  though  always  in  the 
first  line  of  general  admiration,  he  stood  not  in  the  front 
rank  of  public  confidence.  He  took  no  distinguished  part 
in  those  transactions,  appearing  as  if  he  were  repugnant 
to  commit  himself  in  an  imperfect  treaty. 

Whilst  affairs  remained  in  this  precarious  state,  a  debate 
occurred,  more  embarrassing  than  any  that  had  preceded 
it,  and  which  gave  new  features  to  the  close  of  this,  the 
most  remarkable  session  of  Irish  Parliaments. 

IV.  The  question  of  simple  repeal  had  now  been  so 
often  canvassed,  so  often  argued,  and  had  caught  so  strong 
a  hold  of  the  Irish  people,  that  it  was  obvious  it  could  not 
rest  where  it  was,  and  that  something  further  must  be  done 
to  satisfy  the  Irish  Nation ;  but  what  that  something 
should  be,  was  more  embarrassing  to  the  Government  of 
both  countries  than  any  consideration  which  had  thereto- 
fore occurred  to  them. 

After  the  address  of  the  Irish  Commons  to  his  Majesty, 
moved  by  Mr.  Grattan,  England  could  not  be  again  so 
strongly  applied  to  for  further  concession.  She  had 
promptly  acceded  to  every  thing  that  was  then  required  of 
her,  and  was  told  by  that  address,  that  nothing  remained 
further  to  be  done  as  to  a  constitution  between  the  two 
countries ;  she  might,  therefore,  plausibly  decline  further 
demands  upon  the  same  subject.  That  address  had  in 
plain  language,  renounced  all  further  constitutional  claims 
by  the  Irish  Parliament ;  and  Mr.  Grattan  could  not  recede 
uom  such  his  own  reiterated  declarations.  Mr.  Flood, 
however,  remained  unshaken  and  firm  in  his  opinion  of 
the  insufficiency  of  the  arrangement,  and  determined  to 
increase  their  security,  through  an  unequivocal  act  of  the 
Irish  Legislature ;  and  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  of  July, 
he  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill,  "  to  affirm  the 
sole  exclusive  right  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  make  laws 
affecting  that  country,  in  all  concerns  external  and  inter- 
nal whatsoever." 

A  most  animated,  and  even  virulent  debate,  took  place 
on  that  motion.  It  was  debated  with  great  ability,  but  ill- 
placed  confidence  or  ill-timed  mo(  oration  still  guided  the 


840  1TSE    AND    PALL 

majority  of  lb 3  (Emmons;  and  even  the  introduction  ol 
the  Hill  was  negatived  without  a  division; 

Mr.  Grattan  heated  by  the  language  of  his  rival,  blinded 
by  an  unlimited  confidence  in  the  integrity  of  the  Whig 
Ministry,  and  for  a  moment  losing  sight  of  the  first  prin- 
ciple of  constitutional  liberty,  then  proposed  a  motion, 
equally  singular  for  the  language  of  its  exordium,  and  the 
extravagance  of  its  matter.  He  moved,  "  that  the  Legis- 
lature of  Ireland  was  independent ;  and  that  any  person 
who  should  propagate  in  writing,  ox  otherwise,  an  opinion 
that  any  right  whatsoever,  whether  external  or  internal, 
existed  in  any  other  Parliament,  or  could  be  revived,  was 
inimical  to  both  kingdoms." 

The  ingenuity  of  man  could  scarcely  have  formed  a 
more  objectionable  precedent  or  dangerous  resolution.  It 
was  too  great  an  opportunity  not  to  be  taken  immediate 
advantage  of  by  Mr;  Flood ;  his  reply  was  equally  severe 
and  able ;  he  represented  the  resolution  as  "  placing 
Ireland  in  a  state  of  tyranny  worse  than  Russia  ;  prohi- 
biting both  the  Lords  and  Commons  of  Ireland,  under  a 
denunciation  of  being  enemies  to  their  country,  from  the 
common  rights  of  every  British  citizen,  to  discuss  the  same 
constitutional  question  which  had  been  so  often  before,  and 
was  at  that  very  moment,  debating  in  the  House  of  Parlia- 
ment, depriving  every  Irish  subject  of  his  natural  liberty, 
either  of  speech  or  of  writing:  a  proscription  against 
all  who  differed  with  the  honourable  gentleman  on  a  vital 
question  respecting  his  own  country,  or  who  should  pre- 
sume to  publish  or  even  to  whisper  that  difference,  a 
resolution  which  would  be  scoffed  at  in  Ireland,  ridiculed 
in  Great  Britain,  and  be  contemptible  in  both,  a  resolu- 
tion which  could  have  no  operation  as  a  law,  no  justifi- 
cation as  a  principle,  and  which  could  have  no  character 
to  support  it,  but  those  of  folly  and  of  tyranny."  He 
therefore  moved  an  adjournment.  The  tide,  however, 
flowed  too  strong  against  Mr.  Flood  personally.  It  wag 
the  great  object  of  the  Government  to  conquer  him  first, 
and  then  neutralize  his  adversary ;  and  even  those  who 
were  determined  to  negative  Mr.  Grattan's  motion,  alsa 
determined  to  negative  the  motion  of  adjournment,  be- 
eause  it  was  Mr.  Flood's;  and  a  considerable  majority 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  241 

decided  against  it.*  Mr.  Grattan  then  proposed  another 
declaratory  resolution,  stretching  away  from  the  real  facta 
as  to  any  political  application  of  those  that  existed,  but 
unaccompanied  by  most  of  the  former  objections  ;  and,  *t 
all  events,  leaving  both  his  own  and  Mr.  Flood's  principles 
nearly  where  it  found  them  at  the  commencement  of  me 
altercation.  Mr.  Grattan  moved,  that  leave  was  "  refused 
to  bring  in  the  (Mr.  Flood's)  Bill,  because  the  sole  and 
exclusive  right  to  legislate  for  Ireland  in  all  cases  what- 
soever, internally  and  externally,  had  been  asserted  by 
the  Parliament  of  Ireland,  and  had  been  fully,  finally,  and 
irrevocably  acknowledged  by  the  British  Parliament." 

This  resolution  obviously  stated  some  facts  which  did 
not  exist.  No  final  irrevocable  acknowledgment  ever 
had  been  made  by  the  British  Parliament.  On  the  con 
trary,  acts  had  been  done,  and  declarations  made  by  the 
Minister  himself,  that  a  future  treaty  would  be  necessary 
to  render  the  arrangement  full,  final,  or  irrevocable. 

Mr.  Flood  saw  the  weak  point,  and  he  possessed  himself 
ot  it.  He  altered  his  language,  became  satiric,  and  ridi- 
culed the  resolution  as  the  "  innocent  child  of  fiction  and 
of  fancy."  He  congratulated  Mr.  Grattan  on  changing 
his  tone,  and  declared  "  that  he  would  willingly  leave  him 
m  the  full  enjoyment  of  this  new  production  of  his  lively 
imagination."  Mr.  Grattan's  motion  then  passed  without 
further  observation,  and  the  House  adjourned. 

V.  No  further  proceedings  of  importance  took  place 
in  the  House  of  Commons  during  the  session,  except  two 
motions  of  Mr.  Montgomery,  of  Cavan  County,  for  leave 
to  bring  in  a  Bill  to  build  Irish  men  of  war  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  trade  of  Ireland.     This  motion  appeared  too 

*  The  division  was  ninety-nine  to  thirteen  against  Mr.  Flood's  motion, 
though  the  whole  House  saw  clearly  that  Mr.  Grattan's  resolution  could 
not  possibly  pass;  yet  so  strong  was  the  opposition  to  any  thing  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Flood,  that  an  adjournment  was  rejected.  This  debate,  so 
near  the  termination  of  the  session,  appeared  at  first  very  disagreeable ; 
but  in  the  event  it  had  great  effect ;  and  the  embarrassments  which  Mr. 
Grattan's  resolution,  if  carried,  must  necessarily  have  created,  was  a  very 
strong  ingredient  amongst  those  considerations  which  induced  the  British 
Parliament  voluntarily  to  pass  an  Act  of  Renunciation,  which  Ml. 
Grattan  had  thought  unnecessary,  before  the  Irish  Parliament  could  me* I 
again  to  discuss  the  subject,  when  the  accumulating  dissatisfaction  of  th* 
nation  night  have  given  rise  to  moie  distracting  measures. 

21 


242  RISE    AND    PALL 

distinct,  and  was  of  course  negatived.  He  also  moved 
for  an  address  to  the  King,  to  reinstate  Mr.  Flood  in  hi» 
office  of  Vice  Treasurer,  from  which  he  had  been  dis- 
missed for  supporting  his  country.  This  would  have  been 
just,  but  it  was  not  eligible.  Mr.  Fitzpatrick  received  it 
in  civility,  but  it  was  also  negatived,  as  encroaching  on 
the  prerogative ;  and  on  the  27th  of  July,  the  Duke  of 
Portland  prorogued  the  Parliament,  with  a  speech  detail- 
ing all  the  advantages  Ireland  had  received  undei  his 
paternal  administration  ;  and  thus  ended  the  public  trans- 
actions of  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Portland's  first  vice- 
royalty  to  the  Irish  nation. 

VI.  This  session  of  the  Irish  Parliament  was  the  most 
interesting  and  important  its  history  records ;  important, 
not  to  Ireland  only,  but  to  the  best  interests  of  Great 
Britain  ;  illustrative  of  the  first  and  finest  principles  of 
civil  liberty ;  and  a  lecture  on  the  rights  and  foundations 
of  rights,  by  the  establishment  of  which  alone  the  inde- 
pendence of  nations  can  be  attainable,  or,  being  attained, 
preserved.  It  displayed  p.  scene  of  loyalty  and  of  for- 
bearance in  the  Irish  nation,  unequalled  in  the  history  oi 
any  armed  people.  It  proved  the  possibility  of  an  irre- 
sistible democratic  power,  roused  without  commotion ; 
the  entire  population  of  an  extensive  country  converted 
into  a  disciplined  and  independent  army,  to  assert  its 
liberties,  yet,  in  the  pursuit  of  that  most  animating  of  all 
objects,  preserving  perfect  peace  and  substantial  loyalty. 
It  showed  an  independent  and  patriotic  army,  able  in  one 
day  to  crush  or  to  drive  every  relic  of  usurpation  from 
its  shores  for  ever,  with  a  moderation  almost  incredible ; 
accepting,  as  a  kind  concession,  those  natural  rights  which 
t  had  the  power  of  commanding ;  and,  with  a  liberal  and 
generous  confidence,  peculiar  to  its  character,  honourably, 
but  fatally,  insisting  on  no  further  guarantee  for  her  con- 
stitution, than  the  faith  of  a  government  which  had  never 
before  omitted  an  opportunity  of  deceiving  her. 

The  Duke  of  Portland's  proroguing  speech  to  the  Irish 
Parliament,  July  27,  1782,  is  in  itself  the  most  unsophis- 
ticated tissue  of  hypocrisy  on  record,  totally  unparalleled 
in  the  history  of  the  British  Empire,  or  of  any  Minister 
who  regarded  either  the  law  of  nations,  or  the  character 
of  the  sovereign.     It  was   emphatically  delivered  by  a 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  243 

Viceroy,  who,  a  few  years  afterwards,  in  1800,  in  his 
place  in  Parliament,  unblushingly  declared,  that  he  never 
considered  the  treaty  between  England  and  Ireland  (con- 
summated by  himself)  as  final.  His  Grace's  speeclx, 
addressed,  in  the  name  of  the  King,  to  the  assembled 
Peers  and  Commons  of  Ireland,  on  the  prorogation  of  that 
Parliament,  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  as  connected 
with  the  events  of  1799  and  1800 ;  and  when  that  speech 
is  compared  with  a  subsequent  speech  of  the  same  noble- 
man in  the  Peers  of  England,  not  only  an  Irish  subject, 
but  even  a  disinterested  citizen  of  the  world,  would  draw 
conclusions  in  no  way  favourable  to  his  Grace's  political 
integrity.  It  was,  however  a  useful  lesson  to  all  people, 
to  trust  their  statesmen  just  so  far  and  so  long  as  their 
interest  or  their  party  called  for  their  consistence.  His 
Grace  was  pleased  to  speak  as  follows : 

"  The  great  and  constitutional  advantages  you  have 
secured  to  your  country,  and  the  wise  and  magnanimous 
conduct  of  Great  Britain,  in  contributing  to  the  success  of 
your  steady  and  temperate  exertions,  call  for  my  congra- 
tulations, on  the  close  of  a  session  which  must  ever  reflect 
the  highest  honour  on  the  national  character  of  both 
kingdoms. 

"  It  must  be  a  most  pleasing  consideration  to  you,  to 
recollect,  that  in  the  advances  you  made  towards  the 
settlement  of  your  constitution,  no  acts  of  violence  or 
impatience  have  marked  their  progress.  A  religious 
adherence  to  the  laws,  confined  your  endeavours  within 
the  strictest  bounds  of  loyalty  and  good  order ;  your  claims 
were  directed  by  the  same  spirit  that  gave  rise  and  sta- 
bility to  the  liberty  of  Great  Britain,  and  could  not  fail  ot 
success,  as  soon  as  the  councils  of  that  kingdom  were 
influenced  by  the  avowed  friends  of  the  constitution. 

"Many,  and  great  national  objects, must  present  them- 
selves to  your  consideration  during  the  recess  from  par- 
liamentary business  ;  but  what  I  would  most  earnestly 
press  upon  you,  as  that  on  which  your  domestic  peace 
and  happiness,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  Empire  at  this 
moment,  most  immediately  depend,  is  to  cultivate  and 
diffuse  those  sentiments  of  affection  and  confidence  which 
are  now  happily  restored  between  the  two  kingdoms; 
convince  the  people  in  your  several  districts,  as  you  are 


944  RISE    AND   PALL 

yourselves  convinced,  that  every  cause  of  past  jealousiet 
and  discontents  is  finally  removed  ;  that  both  countries 
have  pledged  their  good  faith  to  each  other,  and  that  their 
best  security  will  be  an  inviolable  adherence  to  that  corn- 
fact  ;  that  the  implicit  reliance  which  Great  Britain  has 
reposed  on  the  honour,  generosity,  and  candour  of  Ireland, 
engages  your  national  character  to  a  return  of  sentiments 
equally  liberal  and  enlarged ;  convince  them  that  the  two 
kingdoms  are  now  one,  indissolubly  connected  in  unity  of 
constitution,  and  unity  of  interests  ;  and  that  the  danger 
and  security,  the  prosperity  and  calamity  of  the  one,  must 
equally  affect  the  other,  that  they  must  stand  and  fall 
together." 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  245 


CHAPTER    XVI. 

Insufficiency  01  Mr.  Grattan's  measures — Death  of  the  Marquis  ol 
Rockingham  and  its  consequences — Earl  Temple  Lord  Lieutenant — 
Mr.  Grenville  Secretary — His  Character — Lord  Temple — Not  unpop- 
ular— Mr.  Cony  a  principal  instrument  of  Lord  Temple — Proceedings 
cf  the  Volunteers — Strong  resolutions  to  oppose  English  Laws — Bad 
effects  of  the  dissension  between  Grattan  and  Flood— Sir  George 
Voung — Effect  of  Sir  George  Young's  speech — l^ord  Mansfield's  con- 
duct  accounted  for — Consequence  of  these  speeches — British  Parlia- 
ment belie  their  own  Act — Lord  Abingdon  denies  the  King's  right  to 
pass  the  Bill — England  by  Statute  admitted  her  usurpation,  and  relin- 
quished for  ever  her  right  to  legislate  for  Ireland — Renunciation  Act 
— Mr.  Grattan  still  perversely  opposes  Mr.  Flood — The  renunciation 
Act  confirmed  Mr.  Flood's  doctrine. 

I.  Bills  to  cany  into  effect  the  concessions  of  England 
had  been  passed  th*  nigh  the  British  Parliament  with  un- 
usual expedition.  Tne  sixth  of  George  the  First,  decla- 
ratory of  the  dependence  of  Ireland,  had  been  repealed ; 
and  the  arbitrary  dictum  of  Blackstone,  that  favourite 
Druid  of  modern  Britain,  had  been  abandoned  by  his 
countrymen.  But  it  quickly  became  obvious,  that  though 
Mr.  Grattan's  declaration  of  grievances  had  left  to  the  Irish 
Parliament  a  certain  latitude  for  reclaiming  their  consti- 
tutional rights  in  detail,  he  had  not  foreseen  to  what  lengths 
those  details  might  extend,  or  the  danger  of  attempting 
to  conclude  on  narrow  discussions  on  that  intricate  subject. 
His  address  to  the  King  now  appeared  to  have  so  con- 
tracted in  its  tenor  the  claims  which  the  declaration  of 
grievances,  if  not  specifically,  had  virtually  alluded  to, 
that  many  of  the  most  important  of  Irish  constitutional 
rights  had  been  thereby  altogether  passed  over ;  and  con- 
cessions of  England  had  been  accepted  of,  without  those 
guarantees  which  the  invariable  practices  and  principles 
of  British  government  therefore,  rendered  absolutely  in- 
dispensable to  the  permanence  and  security  of  Irish 
independence. 

Had  the  constitutional  arrangement  been  complete  and 
21* 


246 


RISE    AND    FALL 


final,  and  the  concessions  of  Great  Britain  as  sincere  <tn 
they  appeared  to  be  liberal,  and  without  any  view  til 
ulterior  revocation,  never  would  two  nations  have  been 
placed  in  an  attitude  more  powerful  and  imposing,  or 
pregnant  with  happier  consequences  to  the  interests  and 
prosperity  of  both ;  they  would  have  been  firmly  united 
by  indissoluble  ties,  and  bound  to  each  other  by  a  Gordian 
knot,  which  nothing  but  the  scythe  of  time  could  have 
divided.  But  unfortunately,  England  was  not  sincere. 
Her  cabinet  remained  mentally  intolerant ;  and  Ireland, 
after  ten  years  of  unexampled  prosperity,  was  again  des- 
tined to  future  miseries,  equally  unforeseen  and  unmerited. 

It  was  for  a  moment  supposed  that  commercial  jealou- 
sies towards  Ireland,  those  eternal  enemies  to  every  thing 
generous  or  cordial,  had  been  at  least  partially  excluded 
from  British  councils,  to  make  room  for  a  more  just,  liberal, 
and  enlightened  policy.  Had  it  been  so,  the  interests  of 
both  nations  would  have  found  their  common  level  in 
their  mutual  prosperity ;  the  moral  and  physical  powers 
of  both  would  have  been  invigorated  and  embarked  in  the 
same  cause,  attracting  and  consolidating  their  united 
strength  into  one  impenetrable  mass,  which  would  have 
defied  all  the  enmities,  the  machinations,  and  the  powers 
of  united  Europe. 

Arrangements  of  such  a  nature,  founded  on  so  strong 
and  broad  a  basis,  might  have  been  durable  as  the  ancient 
towers  of  Ireland,  of  which  even  tradition  cannot  trace 
the  origin,  but  which  neither  time  nor  the  elements  have 
as  yet  had  the  power  to  dilapidate.  Ireland  was  disposed, 
for  a  time,  to  be  contented  with  her  Parliament:  sus- 
picion is  not  one  of  her  characteristic  feelings  ;  she  looked 
at  every  object  through  the  sunny  medium  of  her  own 
bright  and  warm  generosity,  and  threw  herself  at  once 
into  the  arms  of  her  sister  country.  She  did  not,  or  she 
would  not,  till  forced  by  its  glare  upon  her  vision,  see  the 
false  and  fatal  artifices  by  which  her  independence  was 
surrounded.  She  disdained  to  suspect  those  on  whom 
she  had  already  lavished  a  noble  confidence;  and  she 
fancied  she  beheld  all  her  better  fortunes  circling,  like  a 
glory,  round  the  brow  of  her  new-born  freedom. 

A  phenomenon  so  novel  and  captivating,  absorbed  foi 
•\  time  the  reflection  of  the  people,  and  concealed  from 


OF    THE    IRISH     NATION.  247 

ftiein  that  treacherous  reservation,  which  subsequent  events 
have  proved  to  have  then  lurked  behind  the  faithless,  but 
specious  language  of  the  yielding  country. 

However,  the  matter  was  suddenly  brought  to  a  decisive 
issue.  After  a  lingering  indisposition,  the  Marquis  of 
Rockingham  the  only  link  which  bound  the  Whig  ministry 
together,  ceased  to  exist.  This  loss  was  irreparable,  the 
cabinet  became  incomplete,  and  could  not  be  recruitea ; 
its  members  suspected  each  other,  and  the  nation  suspected 
them,  and,  but  a  short  period  had  elapsed,  when  the  most 
unnatural  and  corrupt  ministerial  coalition  in  the  annals 
of  British  Government,  between  Mr.  Fox  and  Lord  North, 
justified  the  suspicions  of  both  the  people  and  the  parties, 
and  taught  Ireland  what  she  might  expect  from  the  con- 
sistency of  British  Ministers. 

II.  A  temporary  confusion  was  the  consequence  of  the 
Marquis  of  Rockingham's  death.  However,  an  entire 
new  ministry  was  formed,  and  public  affairs  in  England 
appeared  to  be  acquiring  at  least  a  semblance  of  some 
stability. 

In  Ireland,  the  scene  entirely  changed.  The  Marquis 
of  Rockingham  no  more,  the  administration  of  England 
remodelled  without  being  improved ;  and  Earl  Temple 
sent  over  to  supersede  the  Duke  of  Portland,  and  to  take 
his  chance  of  governing  and  tranquilizing  the  Irish  peo- 
ple, as  circumstances  might  warrant. 

His  Excellency  was  accompanied  to  Ireland  by  his 
brother,  Mr.  (now  Lord)  Grenville,  in  the  office  of  Chief 
Secretary ;  a  person  not  adapted  to  the  habits  of  that 
people,  the  temper  of  the  times,  or  the  circumstances  of 
the  country ;  a  proud  English  gentleman,  deficient  in  that 
modulation  and  flexibility  of  character  so  useful  to  a 
minister,  at  times  when  he  cannot  control,  and  so  pecu- 
liarly serviceable  e:  ah  periods  to  the  temporary  rulers  of 
tne  ln«h  nation :  and  as  he  and  his  family  assumed  a 
leading  part,  eighteen  years  afterwards,  in  the  suppression 
of  that  constitution  which  he  then  came  over  professedly 
to  complete,  it  becomes  necessary  to  allude  to  some  of 
those  public  qualities  which  have  distinguished  that  per- 
sonage in  his  political  capacities  on  both  occasions. 

Mr.  Grenville  had  improved  by  unremitting  assiduity 
whatever  talents  nature  had  entrusted  him  with  :  and  sc 


248  RISE    AND    FALL 

far  as  they  could  be  extended,  he  worked  them  up  into 
very  considerable  reputation,  and  never  failed  to  exeicise 
them  with  firmness,  though  not  always  with  discretion, 
and  occasionally  with  inconsistency. 

He  commenced  his  public  course  i::  an  Irish  office,  and 
he  pursued  it  till  he  arrived  at  the  British  Cabinet.  In 
both  he  was  efficient ;  but  in  the  firsi  he  was  mistaken, 
and  in  the  latter  he  was  overrated.  Too  unbending  for 
the  crown,  and  too  aristocratic  for  the  people,  he  sought 
influence  from  both,  without  attaching  himself  to  either  ; 
and  like  the  coffin  of  Mahomet,  he  was  suspended  be- 
tween attraction.  The  popularity  of  the  man  was  cir- 
cumscribed by  the  austerity  of  the  courtier ;  and  the  am- 
bition of  the  courtier,  counteracted  by  the  inflexibility  of 
the  statesman.  His  powers  were  inferior  to  domination, 
but  his  pride  superior  to  subserviency ;  his  party  therefore 
have  been  placed  w  a  long  abeyance,  but  which  certainly 
could  not  be  well  justified,  either  by  the  policy  of  the 
state,  or  by  the  gratitude  of  the  ruler. 

The  Viceroy,  though  a  grander  person  was  a  very  in- 
ferior statesman.  He  was  a  man  of  business  ;  not  less 
proud,  yet  rather  more  accessible  than  his  brother,  and 
would  have  worked  his  way  better  had  he  been  aided  by 
a  more  elastic  secretary.  They  both  mistook  their  course  ; 
they  began  where  they  should  have  concluded ;  and 
acted  upon  the  vain  idea  of  diverting  away  the  attention 
of  an  ardent  people  from  an  animating  object,  by  the 
novel  purity  of  pecuniary  retrenchments.  On  this  erro- 
neous principle,  they  passed  over  more  important  con- 
cerns, and  proceeded  to  the  detection  of  official  pecula- 
tions with  unprecedented  activity ;  they  even  sacrificed  to 
this  delusive,  and  comparatively  frivolous  object,  one  of 
the  highest  officers,  and  one  of  the  most  extensive  politi- 
cal connections  in  Ireland.  Earl  Temple  and  his  brothei 
thus  setting  to  work  steadily,  as  men  of  business,  laboured 
to  gain  a  confidence  amongst  the  people  by  financial  re 
forms,  before  they  had  established  a  foundation  for  de 
serving  it  by  constitutional  services. 

III.  However,  few  acts  of  the  first  Temple  administra 
tion  gave  the  Irish  nation  any  important  grounds  for  com 
plaint  or  for  suspicion.  Every  day  discovered  and  ex- 
posed  some   *iew  official  delinquency,   and   every  daj 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  24S 

brought  its  dismissals  or  its  punishments.  In  othei 
times,  and  under  other  circumstances,  this  meritorious 
exertion  would  have  had  its  full  weight,  and  received 
adequate  approbation  ;  but  that  moment  was  not  an  or- 
dinary one  ;  a  financial  reform  was  but  a  secondary  ob- 
ject, and  was  soon  considered  rather  as  an  interruption 
to  the  view  of  constitutional  arrangement,  and  leading 
away  the  attention  of  the  nation  from  great  measures,  by 
thos<^  nf  comparatively  unimportant  consequence.  This 
system  failed  in  all  its  objects  ;  the  nation  saw  and  de- 
spised the  principle,  they  were  not  in  a  humour  to  relish 
naked  financial  arrangements,  the  idea  of  national  inde- 
dependence  had  filled  their  minds,  and  popular  tranquil- 
lity should  have  preceded  financial  retrenchment,  then  il 
would  have  been  grateful,  now  it  was  contemptible. 

The  Viceroy,  however,  persevered  in  his  official  refor- 
mations ;  and  though  he  obtained  no  credit  from  the  body 
of  the  people,  he  appeared  to  make  considerable  progress 
amongst  the  aristocracy  of  the  patriots. 

Amongst  those  whom  Lord  Temple  selected  to  aid  him 
in  this  plausible  reformation  of  public  abuses,  was  a 
person,  who.  from  that  period,  continued  an  active  and  on 
some  occasions,  a  distinguished  member  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liament. On  the  question  of  an  Union,  he  made  himself 
particularly  remarkable,  and  had  nearly  ended  his  mortal 
career  in  supporting  the  minister. 

Mr.  Isaac  Cony,  the  son  of  an  eminent  merchant  in 
Newry,  had  been  elected  representative  in  Parliament  for 
his  native  town,  and  commenced  his  public  life  under  the 
patronage  of  that  dignified  Irishman,  Mr.  John  O'Neil, 
with  great  advantages.  His  figure  and  address  were 
those  of  a  gentleman,  rather  graceful  and  prepossessing  ; 
and  though  not  regularly  educated,  he  was  not  badly  in- 
formed. He  was  a  man  of  business,  and  a  man  of  plea- 
sure ;  he  had  glided  over  the  surface  of  general  politics, 
and  collected  the  idioms  of  superficial  literature;  he  pos- 
sessed about  a  third  rate  public  talent ;  his  class  of  elo- 
cution in  Parliament  was  sometimes  useful  and  always 
agreeable,  but  on  momentous  subjects  he  was  not  efficient. 
In  facing  great  questions,  he  frequently  shrunk  back,  in 
facing  great  men,  ne  was  sufficiently  assuming.  His 
public  principles  were  naturally  patriotic ;  but  his  interest 


850  RISK    AND    FALL 

lost  no  time  in  adapting  them  to  his  purposes.  He  sough! 
to  acquire  the  character  of  an  accomplished  financier,  but 
he  was  totally  unequal  to  the  mazes  of  financial  specula- 
tion, and  there  he  altogether  failed.  His  private  habits 
and  qualities  were  friendly  and  engaging,  his  public  ones 
as  correct  as  his  interest  would  admit  of. 

As  a  reward  for  his  fidelity  to  the  Irish  Minister  of 
1799,  he  succeeded  in  the  first  object  of  his  life,  the  sup- 
planting of  Sir  John  Parnell  in  the  Chancellorship  of  the 
Irish  Exchequer.  But  it  added  little  to  his  emolument, 
and  nothing  to  his  reputation.  He  wrangled  through 
the  Irish  Union  as  a  ministerial  partisan,  and  exposed 
himself  as  a  financier  in  the  Imperial  Parliament.  His 
influence  was  neutralized  when  he  lost  his  country,  his 
pride  was  extinguished  when  he  lost  his  office,  and  he 
was  defeated  at  Newry,  in  which  he  thought  himself  es- 
tablished. Like  others  of  his  repenting  countrymen,  he 
withdrew  from  public  life,  upon  the  purchase  of  his  in- 
tegrity, regretting  past  scenes,  and  disgusted  with  the 
passing  ones.  He  lingered  out  his  latter  days  in  an  in- 
glorious retirement,  the  prey  of  chagrin,  and  the  victim 
of  unimportance.  As  a  private  friend,  it  is  impossible 
but  to  regret  him  ;  as  a  public  character  he  has  left  but 
little  of  celebrity. 

Lord  Charlemont  and  Mr.  Grattan,  dazzled  by  specious 
appearances,  placed  much  confidence  in,  and  formed  some- 
what of  a  political  connection  with  the  new  Lord  Lieute- 
nant. But  they  soon  found  that  it  had  become  impera- 
tively necessary  to  change  the  tone  of  their  representa- 
tions to  Government ;  and  during  the  recess  of  Parlia- 
ment, they  adopted  language  very  different  from  and 
much  stronger  than  that  which  they  had  conceived  to  be 
sufficient  during  the  last  administration.  The  interval 
between  the  prorogation  and  the  meeting  of  a  new  Par- 
liament, comprised  a  period  of  great  importance  in  Irish 
history,  and  merits  considerable  attention,  as  bearing 
strongly  on  the  subsequent  transactions  which  extin- 
guished its  constitution. 

IV.  The  armed  Volunteers  had  now  assumed  a  delib. 
erative  capacity.  Political  subjects  became  topics  of 
regular  organized  discussion  in  every  district  of  Ireland, 
ind  amongst  every  class  and  description  of  its  population 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  251 

They  paraded  as  soldiers,  and  they  debated  as  citizens; 
and  but  few  days  passed  over,  in  which  they  did  not 
exercise  in  both  capacities.  More  than  150,000  Volun- 
teers now  appeared  upon  their  regimental  muster-rolls: 
prepared  to  join  their  standards  the  moment  their  country 
demanded  their  exertions ;  an  army  so  constituted  must 
have  been  strong,  an  army  so  animated  must  have  been 
invincible. 

The  Catholics  now  became  also  practically  active  in 
the  same  cause,  considerable  bodies  of  that  body  now  took 
up  arms,  formed  regiments  in  several  districts,  and  placed 
themselves  entirely  under  the  command  and  control  of 
iheir  Protestant  officers  and  fellow  subjects.  All  was 
unanimity  in  the  armed  bodies ;  but  a  general  discontent 
and  suspicion,  as  to  the  conduct  of  Great  Britain,  appeared 
in  rapid  progress,  and  proceedings  more  than  usually 
alarming  were  occurring  every  moment  throughout  the 
whole  nation. 

Many  collateral  and  important  constitutional  points 
now  successively  appeared  to  have  been  omitted  in  the 
claim  of  rights ;  and  many  remained  unaffected  by  the 
repeal  of  the  English  statute,  but  which  sooner  or  later 
must  necessarily  give  rise  to  new  and  great  collisions. 
The  debates  of  the  last  session  inconclusive  in  their  results, 
had,  without  remedying  these  difficulties,  inflamed  the 
people ;  and  a  new  paroxysm  of  discontent  actually  seized 
upon  the  entire  population.  The  Volunteers,  however, 
soon  placed  the  matter  beyond  all  doubt  or  argument ; 
they  again  entered  into  decisive  resolutions,  no  longer  to 
CMey,  or  suffer  to  be  obeyed,  any  statute  or  law  theretofore 
enacted  in  England,  and  to  oppose  their  execution  with 
their  lives  and  fortunes.*  The  magistrates  refused  to 
act  under  them,  the  judges  were  greatly  embarrassed,  no 
legal  causes  could  be  proceeded  on,  under  the  authority 
of  the  British  statutes,!  though  naming  Ireland,  no  counsel 

*  A  few  resolutions  of  the  Volunteer  corps  will  serve  to  show  the 
spirit  and  temper  of  the  whole;  the  most  important  will  be  detailed  in 
the  Appendix. 

t  Resolutions,  County  of  Monaghan.  "  We,  the  High  Sheriff, 
Foreman,  and  Grand  Jury  of  the  County  of  Monaghan,  assembled,  Lent 
Assizes,  1782: 

"Thinking  it  now  peculiarly  necessary  to  declare  our  sentiments  re- 
fecting the  fundamental  and  undoubted  rights  of  this  nation,  we  do 


262  RISE    AND    FALL 

would  plead  them,  no  juries  would  find  for  them  vha 
operation  of  many  important  laws,  theretofore  in  force-, 
was  necessarily  suspended  ;  and  matters  seemed  verging 
towards  great  perplexity.  The  general  dissatisfaction 
made  rapid  progress,  assumed  a  more  decisive  attitude, 
and  every  discreet  person  became  alarmed  for  the  con- 
sequences. 

The  discussion  and  arrangement  of  those  numerous 
constitutional  and  legal  difficulties,  though  complicated 
and  irritating,  appeared  absolutely  indispensable.  It 
became  impossible  longer  to  support  the  terms  of  the 
address  to  his  Majesty,  or  to  argue  that  "all  constitutional 
questions  between  the  two  nations  were  at  an  end  for 
pver ; "  the  fact  was  practically  negatived,  and  all  reasoning 
on  the  sufficiency  of  the  simple  repeal,  daily  lost  its  weight 
amongst  the  people. 

V.  Whilst  these  important  subjects  were  in  agitation, 
and  many  men's  opinions  remained  undecided  in  Ireland, 
the  conduct  of  the  British  Parliament  and  of  the  British 
Ministry  justly  confirmed  all  the  suspicions  which  had 
been  entertained   as  to  the  sincerity  of  Great  Britain. 

unanimously  declare,  that  we  will,  in  every  situation  of  life,  and  with 
all  the  means  in  our  power,  assert  and  maintain  the  constitutional  rights 
of  this  kingdom,  to  be  governed  by  such  laws  only  as  are  enacted  by  the 
King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland,  and  that  we  will  in  every  in- 
stance, uniformly  and  strenuously  oppose  the  execution  of  any  statutes, 
except  such  as  derive  authority  from  said  Parliament,  pledging  ourselves 
to  our  country,  and  to  each  other,  to  support,  with  our  lives  and  fortunes, 
this  our  solemn  declaration  ;  and  further,  we  bind  ourselves,  that  we  will 
yearly  renew  this  necessary  vindication  of  our  rights,  until  such  time  as 
they  shall  be  explicitly  acknowledged,  and  firmly  established. 
"  Thomas  Corry,  Sheriff, 
"  Samuel  Madden,  Foreman,  and  Fellows." 
Resolutions  entered  into  by  the  Corps  of  Dublin  Volunteers,  on  Friday, 

the  1st  of  March,  1782,  His  Grace  the  Duke  of  Leinsler  in  the 

Chair. 

«'  Resolved,  That  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  are,  and  ought  to  be,  in- 
separably connected,  by  being  under  the  dominion  of  the  same  King,  and 
enjoying  equal  liberty,  and  similar  constitutions. 

««  That  the  King,  Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland  only,  are  competent 
to  make  laws,  binding  the  subjects  of  this  realm;  and  that  we  will  nol 
obey  or  give  operation  to  any  laws,  save  only  those  enacted  by  the  King, 
Lords,  and  Commons  of  Ireland,  whose  rights  and  privileges,  jointly  and 
•everally,  we  are  determined  to  support  with  our  lives  and  fortunes." 
"  Signed  (by  order),  John  Williams,  Sec" 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  253 

Every  day  during  the  session  of  Parliament  discord  had 
been  augmenting :  Mr.  Flood  was  frequently  victorious  in 
the  argument ;  but  Mr.  Grattan  was  always  victorious  in 
the  majority.  Their  contests  were,  at  first  moderate ;  but 
at  length,  discretion  was  abandoned  on  both  sides  and 
gave  way  to  altercations,  abounding  in  eloquence,  but  too 
personal  and  too  acrimonious  to  be  recorded  in  these 
memoirs. 

This  violent  difference  of  opinion  between  those  two 
great  men,  of  course  communicated  its  effects,  more  or 
less,  amongst  all  their  supporters,  and  became  injurious  to 
the  general  cause  of  the  country.  Mr.  Grattan  firmly 
believed  that  he  was  right ;  and  he  would  not  recede.  His 
pertinacity  formed  a  rallying  station  for  some  of  the  old 
courtiers,  who  hated  both  men,  but  Mr.  Flood  most,  and 
gave  them  a  pretence  for  their  re-embodying  against  the 
country.  Strong  parties  in  Parliament  had  assailed  Mr. 
Flood,  he  stood  at  bay,  and  no  local  statesman  ever 
showed  more  talent,  more  judgment,  more  constitutional 
knowledge,  and  effective  firmness,  than  he  did  in  this 
memorable  contest. 

This  divided  state  of  the  Irish  nation  was  exactly  what 
the  Ministry  were  desirous  to  bring  about.  It  somewhat 
discredited  all  the  Irish  parties,  gave  breathing  time  to 
the  British  Cabinet ;  and  if  disunion  had  extended  itself 
materially  to  the  people,  it  would  have  given  the  Govern- 
ment an  opportunity  of  making  arrangements  entirely 
conformable  to  their  own  objects.  This  dividing  system 
however,  became  entirely  defeated  by  the  injudicious 
conduct  of  some  Members  of  the  British  Parliament, 
who  could  not  restrain  their  chagrin  at  concessions  which 
they  disapproved  of;  but  carried  by  their  zeal  beyond 
theii  discretion,  their  injudicious  conduct  united  parties  in 
Ireland,  as  against  a  common  enemy. 

Events  now  rapidly  succeeded  each  other,  to  impress 
the  Irish  nation  with  a  thorough  conviction  that  they  had 
to  deal  with  a  Government,  from  whom,  neither  political 
sincerity  nor  cordial  concession  could  be  further  expected. 

VI.  Sir  George  Young,  a  member  of  the  British  Par- 
liament, neither  a  native  nor  a  resident  of  Ireland,  had 
been  placed  in  the  office  of  Vice-Treasurer  of  Ireland,  at 

22 


254  RISE    AND    FALL 

a  sinecure  reward  for  his  Parliamentary  support  of  th* 
British  Government. 

It  was  an  office  during  pleasure  only ;  and  therefore 
no  person  holding  that  office  could  act  contrary  to  the 
desire  of  the  Government  which  appointed  him.  Yet  so 
circumstanced,  Sir  George  Young,  in  his  place  in  Parlia- 
ment, did  oppose  the  Bills  of  Concession  to  Ireland,  and 
the  repeal  of  6th  George  I.  which  had  been  brought  in  by 
the  British  Ministers  themselves :  he  also  protested  against 
the  power  of  passing  such  Bills  by  the  English  Parliament, 
and  disclaimed  the  power  of  the  King  himself  to  relin- 
quish the  inherent  rights  of  the  British  Legislature  to 
legislate  for  Ireland. 

No  person,  therefore,  could  suppose,  that  Sir  George 
Young,  a  dependent  placeman,  and  partisan  of  the  British 
Ministers,  durst  have  so  acted,  or  have  ostensibly  opposed 
the  King  and  his  Government,  without  the  express  desire 
or  implied  concurrence  of  the  Ministers  themselves. 

The  effect  of  such  a  speech,  by  such  a  person,  at  such 
a  moment,  was  almost  electrical :  but  a  much  weightier 
authority  against  the  independence  of  Ireland  soon  suc- 
ceeded it.  Lord  Mansfield  (though  one  of  the  greatest, 
was  an  arbitrary,  and,  in  some  points,  one  of  the  most 
mischievous  judges  that  ever  sat  upon  the  English  Bench,) 
notwithstanding  the  repeal  of  the  6th  of  George  the  First 
by  the  British  Parliament,  proceeded  to  entertain,  in  the 
Court  of  King's  Bench,  at  Westminster,  an  Appeal  from 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench  of  Ireland;  observing,  that 
u  he  knew  of  no  law  depriving  the  British  Court  of  its 
vested  jurisdiction." 

The  interest  of  money  in  England  was  only  five  per 
."ent.,  in  Ireland  it  was  six ;  and  Lord  Mansfield  had 
placed  very  large  sums  on  Irish  mortgages,  to  gain  the 
additional  one  per  cent.  His  Lordship  well  knew  that 
such  Irish  investments  were,  in  their  nature,  a  trouble- 
some species  of  security ;  but  that  they  were  not  likely 
to  gain  any  additional  facilities  by  the  appellant's  juris- 
diction being  taken  from  the  British  Courts  and  transferred 
to  Ireland  herself:  hence  his  Lordship's  reluctance  to  pari 
with  it. 

These  considerations  were  not  concealed  by  his  Lord 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  255 

ship.  He  uas  forced  however  to  yield  to  circumstances  • 
but  he  never  did  it  with  a  good  grace. 

VII.  The  effect  of  this  proceeding  was  sufficiently 
alarming  ;  but  another  exciting  circumstance  immediately 
took  place,  of  still  higher  order.  The  English  Parliament 
passed  an  Act.  regulating  the  importation  of  sugars  from 
St.  Domingo  to  all  His  Majesty's  dominions  in  Europe. 
Ireland  was  a  part  of  His  Majesty's  dominions  in  Europe ; 
and  this  statute  was  construed  as  of  course  embracing 
Ireland,  and  thereby  constituting  an  act  of  external  legis- 
lation over  Irish  concerns,  by  the  King  of  England,  and 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  without  the  concurrence  of 
the  Irish  legislature.  This,  however,  was  rather  a  refine- 
ment of  construction  ;  but  the  conduct  of  Lord  Abingdon, 
in  the  British  Lords,  rendered  all  further  confidence  in 
the  state  of  the  arrangement  between  the  two  countries, 
as  it  then  stood,  totally  inadmissible :  it  was  too  explicit 
to  be  mistaken. 

Lord  Abingdon,  equally  adverse  to  the  rights  of  Ireland, 
followed,  in  the  House  of  Peers,  the  example  of  Sir  George 
Young  in  the  House  of  Commons ;  and  totally  denying 
the  authority  of  the  King  and  the  Parliament  of  England 
to  emancipate  Ireland,  he  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a 
declaratory  Bill  to  re-assert  the  right  of  England  to  legis- 
late externally  in  the  concerns  of  Ireland.  This  remarka- 
ble Bill  stated,  "  that  the  Kings  of  England  being  masters 
of  the  British  Seas  for  eighteen  centuries,  and  the  Wes- 
tern Sea,  which  surrounded  Ireland,  belonging  to  the  Kings 
of  England,  the  British  Parliament  had  the  sole  right  to 
make  laws  to  regulate  the  commerce  of  Ireland,  &c." 

It  was  impossible  now  for  the  Irish  nation  longer  to  re- 
main silent.  The  aggregate  of  all  these  circumstances 
went  clearly  to  a  simultaneous  attack  upon  the  new  inde- 
pendence of  Ireland,  and  a  decisive  proof  of  what  might 
occur  when  Great  Britain  acquired  sufficient  vigour  to 
re-assert,  with  any  prospect  of  enforcing,  her  supremacy. 

Lord  Abingdon's  attempt  was  candid  and  direct,  and, 
above  all  others,  alarmed  the  Irish  people.  The  Volun- 
teers beat  to  arms  throughout  the  whole  kingdom ;  above 
120,000  paraded.  The  Volunteers  March  was  played  by 
every  band,  and  sung  by  every  voice  the  war  hymn  of  Ire- 
land.    All  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  the  British  Mini* 


256  RISE    AND    rALL 

try,  its  Cabinet,  its  Officers,  its  Parliament,  was  dissipated 
and  there  were  not  wanting  persons  who  believed  and  dis. 
8eminated  their  opinion,  that  the  rights  of  Ireland  were 
actually  betrayed.  The  danger  and  confusion  of  the  times 
hourly  increased ;  Mr.  Flood  preserved  his  firmness  anH 
his  dignity,  and  gained  much  ground  amongst  the  people. 
The  repeal  of  the  6th  George  I.  could  no  longer  be  urged 
by  Mr.  Grattan  as  a  guarantee ;  the  sincerity  of  England 
could  no  longer  be  relied  upon  ;  the  people  began  to  act 
for  themselves ;  and  the  Anglo  Irish  Government  was 
driven  back  to  its  old  practices,  and  endeavoured,  by  every 
means  within  its  power  to  diminish  the  number  and  over- 
whelming weight  of  their  Parliamentary  opponents.  But 
the  Volunteers  were  in  line  :  the  people  cried  to  arms;  the 
British  Cabinet  now  trembled  for  the  consequences  of 
their  own  duplicity ;  yet  they  had  neither  honour  to  relin- 
quish their  system,  nor  courage  to  support  it :  they  reluc- 
tantly perceived  it  was  totally  inoperative ;  and  at  length 
became  sensible  to  the  imminent  dangers  of  their  own 
situation.  They  felt  the  impossibility  of  either  evasion  or 
resistance ;  and  early  in  the  ensuing  Session  the  British 
Ministry  and  the  British  Parliament,  without  any  stimu- 
lating debate,  and  without  waiting  for  further  and  peremp- 
tory remonstrances  from  Ireland,  passed  the  most  impor- 
tant statute  that  ever  had  been  enacted  as  k/  the  affairs  of 
Ireland,  a  statute  unequivocally  and  explicitly  renouncing 
all  future  right  to  legislate  for  Ireland.  They  thereby 
appeared  to  have  abrogated  for  ever  that  principle  of 
legislative  usurpation  which  they  had  for  so  many  ages 
pertinaciously  and  unjustly  exercised. 

Anno  vicessimo  tertio. 
GEORGII  III  REGIS. 

Chap.  XXVIII.  An  act  for  removing  and  preventing 
all  doubts  which  have  arisen,  or  might  arise,  concerning 
the  exclusive  Rights  of  the  Parliament  and  Courts  of 
Ireland,  in  matters  of  legislation  and  judicature ;  and  for 

Sreventing  any  writ  of  error  or  appeal  from  any  of  His 
lajesty's  Courts  in  that  kingdom  from  being  received, 
heard,  and  adjudged  in  any  of  His  Majesty's  Courts  in  the 
Kingdom  of  Great  Britain.     Whereas,  by  an  Act  of  the 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  257 

.ast  Session  of  this  present  Parliament,  (intituled  An  Act 
to  repeal  an  Act,  made  in  the  Sixth  Year  of  the  Reign  of 
his  Late  Majesty  King  George  the  First,  intituled  Ar. 
Act  for  the  better  securing  the  Dependency  of  the  King- 
dom of  Ireland  upon  the  Crown  of  Great  Britain,)  it  was 
enacted,  that  the  said  last  mentioned  Act,  and  ah  matters 
and  things  therein  contained,  should  be  repealed :  And 
whereas,  doubts  have  arisen  whether  the  provisions  of  the 
said  Act  are  sufficient  to  secure  to  the  people  of  Ireland 
the  Rights  claimed  by  them,  to  be  bound  only  by  laws 
enacted  by  His  Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of  that  King- 
dom, in  all  cases  whatever,  and  to  have  all  actions  and 
suits  at  law,  or  in  equity,  which  may  be  instituted  in  that 
Kingdom,  decided  in  His  Majesty's  Courts  therein  finally, 
and  without  apppeal  from  thence.  Therefore,  lor  removing 
all  doubts  respecting  the  same,  may  it  please  your  Majesty 
that  it  may  be  declared  and  en?3ted,  and  be  it  declared 
and  enacted  by  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty,  by 
and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Lords  spiritual 
and  temporal,  and  Commons,  in  this  present  Parliament 
assembled,  and  by  the  authority  of  the  same,  that  the  said 
right  claimed  by  the  people  of  Ireland,  to  be  bound  only 
by  laws  enacted  by  His  Majesty  and  the  Parliament  of 
that  Kingdom,  in  all  cases  whatever,  and  to  have  all  actions 
and  suits  at  law  or  in  equity,  which  may  be  instrtuted  in 
that  Kingdom,  decided  in  His  Majesty's  Courts  therein 
finally,  and  without  appeal  from  thence,  shall  be,  and  it 
is  hereby  declared  to  be  established  and  ascertained  for 
ever,  and  shall,  at  no  time  hereafter  be  questioned  or 
questionable. 

2nd.  And  be  it  further  enacted,  by  the  authority  afore 
said,  that  no  writ  of  error  or  appeal  shall  be  received  or 
adjudged,  or  any  other  proceeding  be  had  by  or  in  any  of 
His  Majesty's  Courts  in  this  Kingdom,  in  any  action  or 
suit  at  law  or  in  equity,  instituted  in  any  of  His  Majesty's 
Courts  in  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland ;  and  that  all  such 
writs,  appeals,  or  proceedings  shall  be,  and  they  are 
hereby  declared  null  and  void  to  all  intents  and  purposes ; 
and  that  all  records,  transcripts  of  records,  or  proceedings, 
which  have  been  transmitted  from  Ireland  to  Great  Bri- 
tain, by  virtue  of  any  writ  of  error  or  appeal,  and  upon 
which  no  judgment  has  been  given  or  decree  pronounced 

22* 


RISE    AND    FALL 

before  the  first  day  of  June,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  eighty-two,  shall,  upon  application  made  by  or  in 
behalf  of  the  party  in  whose  favour  judgment  was  given, 
or  decree  pronounced  in  Ireland,  be  delivered  to  such 
party,  or  any  person  by  him  authorised  to  apply  for  and 
receive  the  same. 

VII.  This  most  important  measure  was  brought  into 
the  British  House  of  Commons  by  Mr.  Townshend,  passed 
through  both  Houses,  and  received  the  Royal  assent 
without  debate  and  with  very  little  observation.  In  Eng- 
land it  was  cautiously  held  out  neither  in  the  light  of  a 
new  concession  to  Ireland,  nor  of  a  relinquishment  of  any 
then  existing  supremacy  of  Great  Britain ;  but  as  a  con- 
sequential declaratory  part  of  a  general  constitutional 
arrangement  entered  into  between  the  two  nations. 

In  Ireland  it  was  represented  as  not  presuming  to  create 
a  new,  but  merely  to  define  a  pre-existing  constitution. 
These  were  wise  constructions,  and  in  these  points  of 
view  gave  no  alarm  nor  jealousy  to  either  country ;  while 
it  seemed  to  consummate  the  desires  and  objects  of  the 
Irish  nation.  England  had  now  surrendered  all  the 
interests  and  concerns,  constitutional  and  commercial,  ex- 
ternal and  internal,  which  Ireland  claimed,  into  the  hands 
and  guardianship  of  her  own  legislature.  To  many,  this 
great  and  finishing  concession  appeared  a  conclusive, 
magnanimous,  and  sapient  measure  of  the  British  Min- 
istry. Irish  freedom  appeared  complete ;  her"  indepen- 
dence as  a  nation  legislatively  acknowledged  for  ever. 
The  great  outline  of  her  constitution  appeared  to  have 
been  drawn  irrevocably,  the  possibility  of  reassumption 
was  regarded  as  chimerical,  and  nothing  but  commercial 
arrangements  remained  to  be  adjusted  by  the  mutual  good 
will,  and  according  to  the  reciprocal  interests  of  the  two 
nations.  For  a  moment,  general  happiness,  great  cor- 
diality, and  invincible  strength,  seemed  to  be  in  store  for 
the  British  Empire,  as  the  result  and  reward  of  this  wise 
and  honourable  confederacy  of  two  independent  nations. 
A  union  of  powers  and  of  interests  more  dignified,  sub- 
stantial, and  invigorating  to  a  people,  and  more  ennobling 
to  an  empire,  never  had  existed.  And  it  is  grievous  to 
contrast  that  moment  of  pride  and  strength  with  the  de- 
solating  measure  which  in   eighteen  years  afterwxids 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  269 

sacrificed  the  pledged  honour  and  good  faith  of  one 
nation,  to  annihilate  the  independence  and  paralyze  the 
prosperity  of  another.* 

VIII.  This  legislative  renunciation  of  British  supre- 
macy, however,  appeared  to  some  in  a  different  point  of 
view.  Mr.  G rattan,  and  many  persons  of  great  talent, 
considered  that  statute  rather  a  confirmation  than  a  re- 
linquishment of  British  supremacy,  and  still  adhered  more 
strongly  to  the  adequacy  of  simple  repeal  in  preference 
to  such  a  renunciation ;  and  many  considered  that  it  did 
not  go  far  enough.  The  arguments  on  both  sides  were 
carried  on  with  great  warmth  and  pertinacity ;  and  the 
doubtful  security  of  Irish  independence  was  debated  upon 
the  construction  of  that  very  statute  which  was  enacted 
to  confirm  it. 

This  Act  of  Renunciation,  however,  appeared  to  have 
a  conclusive  operation.  It  was  conceived  by  many,  that 
nothing  further  was  necessary  to  be  done,  but  such  as  the 
Irish  Parliament  was  now  in  itself  competent  to  enact. 
But  though  the  measure  tended  to  give  a  strong  confidence 
in  the  good  intentions  of  the  British  Parliament,  it  came 
too  late  to  satisfy  the  Irish  people  as  to  the  purity  of  their 
own.  On  the  contrary,  it  convinced  them  of  either  its 
inefficiency  or  its  corruption,  or  the  Renunciation  Act  of 
the  British  Parliament  would  have  been  totally  unne- 
cessary. Mr.  Flood's  argument  now  appeared  not  only 
triumphant  in  Ireland,  but  fully  acknowledged,  and  legis- 
latively acted  upon,  even  by  Great  Britain  herself.  The 
unfortunate  opposition  in  the  Irish  Commons,  and  the 
still  more  unfortunate  majorities  of  that  House,  which  had 
scouted  doctrines  and  measures  thus  subsequently  admitted 
to  be  just  and  necessary,  by  the  voluntary  acts  of  England 
herseif,  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  Volunteers  of 
Ireland. 

It  was  true  they  had  acquired  their  liberties,  they 
had  gained  their  independence  ;  but  they  still  had  to 
secure  it.  The  Renunciation  Act  of  England  had  dis- 
credited the  Irish  Parliament  with  the  Irish  people.  But 
it  had  its  apology.  It  had  been  so  long  enfeebled  and 
corrupted,  so  long  within  the  iron  trammels  of  usurpation, 

*  A  full  experience  of  thirty-two  years  bas  proved  unanswerably  thf 
truth  of  this  observation. 


960  RISE    AND   FALL 

that  the  chain  had  become  habitual,  and  therefore  it  wat 
more  to  be  dreaded  that  its  broken  links  might  be  rivctted 
anew,  and  Ireland,  in  lapse  of  time,  sink  again  under  the 
same  power  which  had  originally  enslaved  it.  The  Irish 
Declaration  of  Rights  had  been  one  of  those  sudden  events 
which  ages  might  not  again  produce ;  it  was  the  power- 
ful struggle  of  an  enslaved  people,  and  the  irresistible 
energy  of  an  extraordinary  man,  uniting  to  command  the 
acquiescence  of  a  corrupt  legislature. 

Without  the  people,  the  Parliament  would  have  been 
neutralized  ;  and  without  the  man,  the  people  would  have 
been  unsupported :  and  it  was  indisputable,  that  whilst 
the  work  remained  as  yet  unfinished,  the  Irish  Parliament 
had  slackened  in  its  duties,  and  relapsed  into  its  old 
habits  of  a  corrupt  and  indolent  confidence,  contrary  to 
every  principle  of  prudence  and  foresight,  and  the  opinion 
of  the  nation :  the  Irish  people,  therefore,  as  they  gave 
credit  to  the  British  Parliament  for  voluntarily  conceding 
what  their  own  Parliament  had  refused,  naturally  lost 
all  confidence  in  the  future  conduct  and  purity  of  their 
)wn  legislature  ;  a  suspicion  but  too  j  istly  founded,  and 
which  has  given  rise  to  consequences  deeply  interesting 
to  the  fate  of  that  country. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  261 


CHAPTER    XVII 

Lofil  Charlemont's  courtly  propensities — Comparison  of  Grattan  and 
Flood — Consequences  of  their  jealousy  to  the  country — The  people 
enlightened,  learn  the  true  state  of  their  situation — Discussion — And 
Arguments — Inefficiency  of  the  measures  as  a  future  security — A 
Reform  of  Parliament  indispensable  to  public  security — Mr.  Pitt — Hia 
dup]  icily  and  corruption — Constitutional  reasons  for  a  Reform  of  Par- 
liament— Deduction — Conclusion  drawn  by  the  Volunteers — Proved 
by  incontrovertible  fact — State  of  Electors  and  Representatives  com- 
pared— Mr.  Curran — His  character. 

I.  These  historic  incidents  have  been  anticipated,  to  gj/e 
a  clearer  insight  into  the  interesting  and  important  de- 
bates which  immediately  succeeded  them.  During  the 
Marquis  of  Rockingham's  lifetime,  Earl  Charlemont,  al- 
ways virtuous  but  often  feeble,  had  found  something 
most  congenial  to  himself  in  the  refined  habits  and  mild 
plaintive  disposition  of  that  nobleman  ;  and  was  led,  by 
his  love  of  order,  to  conceive  a  visionary  amalgamation 
of  popular  rights  and  ministerial  generosity  ;  and  the 
fundamental  object  of  all  British  Cabinets — disunion 
amongst  patriots — seemed  likely  to  gain  much  ground 
through  so  debilitating  a  doctrine.  Those  who  were 
guided  by  Lord  Charlemont's  tranquil  credulity  and 
courtly  moderation,  had  been  disposed  to  be  content  with 
simple  repeal.  But  Mr.  Flood  had  seen  the  crisis,  and 
had  boldly  thrown  down  the  gauntlet.  Mr.  Grattan  had 
as  boldly  taken  it  up;  direct  hostilities  commenced;  and 
the  same  Parliament,  which  for  a  moment  had  been  all 
confidence  and  unanimity,  arrayed  itself  for  combat 
under  two  powerful  leaders. 

Mr.  Flood  had  become  most  prominent  amongst  the 
Irish  patriots.  He  was  a  man  of  profound  abilities,  high 
manners,  and  great  experience  in  the  affairs  of  Ireland, 
He  had  deep  information,  an  extensive  capacity,  and  a 
solid  judgment.  His  experience  made  him  sceptical — 
Mr.  Grattan's  honestv  made  him  credulous.     Mr.  Grattan 


862  RISE    AND    FALL 

was  a  gieat  patriot — Mr.  Flood  was  a  great  statesman 
The  first  was  qualified  to  achieve  the  liberties  of  a  coun- 
try— the  latter  to  untangle  a  complicated  constitution. 
Grattan  was  the  more  brilliant  man — Flood  the  able 
senator.  Flood  was  the  wiser  politician — Grattan  was 
the  purer.  The  one  used  more  logic— the  other  made 
more  proselytes.  Unrivalled,  save  by  each  other,  they 
were  equal  in  their  fortitude  ;  but  Grattan  was  the  more 
impetuous.  Flood  had  qualities  for  a  great  prince — 
Grattan  for  a  virtuous  one  ;  and  a  combination  of  both 
would  have  made  a  glorious  monarch.  They  were 
great  enough  to  be  in  contest ;  but  they  were  not  great 
enough  to  be  in  harmony :  both  were  too  proud ;  but 
neither  had  sufficient  magnanimity  to  merge  his  jealou- 
sies in  the  cause  of  his  country. 

It  was  deeply  lamented,  that  at  a  moment,  critical  and 
vital  to  Ireland  beyond  all  former  precedent,  an  inveterate 
and  almost  vulgar  hostility  should  have  prevented  the  co- 
operation of  men,  whose  counsels  and  talents  would  have 
secured  its  independence.  But  that  jealous  lust  for  undi- 
vided honour,  the  eternal  enemy  of  patriots  and  of  liberty, 
led  them  away  even  beyond  the  ordinary  limits  of  Parlia- 
mentary decorum.  The  old  courtiers  fanned  the  rlame — 
the  new  ones  added  fuel  to  it — and  the  independence  of 
Ireland  was  eventually  lost  by  the  distracting  result  of 
their  animosities,  which  in  a  few  years  was  used  as  an 
instrument  to  annihilate  that  very  legislature,  the  preser- 
vation of  which  had  been  the  theme  of  their  hostilities. 

This  irreconcileable  difference  of  opinion  between  two 
of  the  ablest  men  of  Ireland,  generated  the  most  ruinous 
consequences  for  that  ill-fated  country.  Both  had  their 
adherents,  as  pertinacious  as  themselves.  The  simple 
repeal  had  contented  Mr.  Grattan  and  Earl  Charlemont ; 
the  Renunciation  Act  was  enforced  by  the  perseverance 
of  Mr.  Flood  and  the  people,  and  still  considered  incon- 
clusive. Both  parties  adhered  to  their  own  conviction  ; 
nothing  could  warp  the  opinions  of  either ;  and  to  the 
day  of  their  death  their  opinions  remained  unaltered,  and 
events  proved  that  both  were  mistaken. 

II.  By  those  two  statutes,  by  daily  political  discussions 
amongst  the  Volunteers,  and  by  a  multitude  of  literary 
publications,  circulated  with  activity,  the  people  were  at 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  263 

length  informed  of  the  plain,  true  facts  of  their  own  case 
and  situation.  They  were  reminded,  as  at  their  first  for- 
mation, that  Great  Britain  had  long  usurped  the  power 
of  binding  Ireland  by  acts  of  their  own  Parliament,  and 
that  Ireland  had  thereby  been  reduced  to  a  state  of  con- 
stitutional slavery  ;  that  the  British  Government,  intend- 
ing to  carry  its  usual  usurpation  to  an  extraordinary 
length,  had  passed  an  Act  in  "  the  British  Parliament," 
dining  the  reign  of  George  L,  "  binding  Ireland  by 
British  statutes,*'  cutting  off  at  once  every  branch  of  Irish 
liberty  ;*  that  this  statute  did  not  affect  to  originate  any 
new  power  by  England,  but  declared  peremptorily,  that 
such  a  right  had  always  existed  in  the  English  Parlia- 
ment, and  always  would  be  acted  on  when  it  suited  the 
convenience  of  the  British  Ministry.  They  were  reminded, 
that  when  the  Irish  nation  became  too  wise  and  too  pow- 
erful to  be  longer  retained  in  subjection,  England  (in 
order  to  pacify  the  Irish  nation)  had  herself  voluntarily 
repealed  that  statute  declaratory  of  her  pre-existing 
power ;  but  did  not,  by  that  repeal,  renounce  the  right 
which  she  had  so  long  exercised,  nor  did  she  in  any  way 
declare  that  she  would  never  re-enact  it :  that  the  same 
right  remained,  in  abeyance ;  nor  had  England  admitted 
in  any  way  that  she  had  been  originally  erroneous  in 
enacting  it. 

III.  These  being  the  plain  and  undisputed  facts  of  the 

*  When  the  author  uses  the  term  liberty,  as  connected  with  Ireland, 
lest  his  application  of  that  term  might  be  misconceived,  he  thinks  it  right 
to  state  that  he  applies  the  term  "  liberty,"  previous  to  1782,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  the  then  existing  constitutional  subserviency  of  that  country. 
From  1782  to  1800,  he  uses  it  as  a  constitutional  quality,  actually  and 
fully  enjoyed  by  Ireland;  and  after  1800,  as  a  constitutional  quality  ac- 
tually relinquished ;  because  he  thinks,  and  always  has  thought,  and  that 
in  uni«on  with  the  avowed  opinion  ot  many  of  the  King's  present  law 
officers  and  judges  of  Ireland,  that  no  detached  distinct  nation  can  be 
said  to  possess  the  attributes  of  a  constitutional  liberty  without  a  resi- 
dent legislature  of  her  own  to  regulate  her  own  concerns ;  and  because 
he  conceives  the  Union  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  considered 
abstracted! y  as  a  union,  has  too  much  of  the  "  imperium  in  imperio" 
remaining,  to  be  a  perfect  union  of  two  nations,  and  too  little  of  it  to  be 
a  federal  compact ;  and  he  considers  that  the  tie  of  connection  between 
England  and  Ireland,  as  it  stood  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  1800,  was 
the  most  perfect,  firm,  and  advantageous  union  (illustrating  the  term 
v  liberty")  that  human  wisdom  could  have  devised. 


864  RISE    AND    FALL 

case,  it  was  thence  argued  that  the  mere  repeal  of  the 
declaratory  statute,  so  far  from  definitively  renouncing 
the  existing  right  of  legislation  over  Ireland,  confirmed  it ; 
and,  by  repealing,  only  enacted  the  expediency  of  discon 
tinuing  its  exercise  under  existing  circumstances.  The 
statute  which  had  declaimed  that  there  existed  such  a  pre- 
existing right  in  England  to  bind  Ireland,  was  indeed 
repealed  by  England;  but  still,  though  the  declaration 
was  repealed,  the  right  was  not  renounced,  and  remained 
only  dormant  till  it  might  be  advisable,  under  a  change 
of  circumstances,  to  re-declare  it  by  a  new  statute. 

The  simple  repeal  of  any  statute  certainly  leaves  the 
original  jurisdiction  untouched,  exactly  in  the  same  situ- 
ation as  before  the  repeal  of  it,  and  with  an  undiminished 
right  to  re-enact  it  as  might  be  convenient :  and  the  6th 
of  George  L,  its  enactments  and  repeal,  stood  exactly  in 
the  same  situation  as  any  enactment  and  repeal  of  any 
ordinary  statute  of  the  same  monarch.  It  was  therefore 
argued,  that  it  had  become  indispensably  necessary,  for 
the  security  of  Ireland,  that  the  British  Parliament  should, 
by  statutes  of  their  own,  not  ouly  repeal  the  Act  declara- 
tory of  Irish  dependence,  but  also  expressly  and  for  ever 
renounce  the  existence  of  any  such  legislative  authority 
over  Ireland,  or  future  renewal  of  such  usurpation,  with- 
out which  renunciation  Ireland  had  no  guarantee  for  her 
constitution. 

Had  t{i£  statute  of  George  I.  been  an  assumption  of  a 
new  authority  to  legislate  for  Ireland,  its  simple  repeal 
would  have  at  once  admitted  the  usurpation  of  such  modern 
assumption  ;  but  as  that  statute  was  the  recognition  and 
declaration  of  pre-existing  authority,  coeval  with  the 
British  Parliament  itself,  a  repeal  could  not  be  binding 
on  any  future  Parliament,  which  might  at  any  future  time 
be  disposed  to  re-enact  it. 

But  a  statute  of  the  British  Parliament  and  the  King  of 
England,  by  his  royal  assent,  directly  renouncing  the  pre- 
existence  of  such  assumed  right  by  England,  pledged  all 
fiiture  Parliaments  (as  far  as  Parliaments  can  be  pledged) 
to  the  same  principle,  and  also  definitively  pledged  all 
future  Kings  of  England  against  any  future  re-assump- 
tion or  exercise  of  such  power  over  the  Kingdom  of  Ire- 
land ;  and  though  the  Kings  of  England  and  Ireland 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  265 

Hirst  always  be  the  same  individual,  the  realms  were 
totally  distinct,  their  crowns  were  distinct,  though  on  the 
dame  head;  and  Ireland,  possessing  her  own  indepen- 
dent legislature  any  such  future  attempt  by  a  King  cf 
England  would  then  be  a  direct  breach  of  the  law  of 
nations,  and  a  dereliction  of  his  Irish  office  by  the  King 
of  Ireland. 

These  arguments*  became  a  universal  subject  of  dis 
cussion  ;  and  were  rendered  of  still  greater  interest  by 
debates,  which  every  day  arose  on  other  points  inter- 
woven with  the  arrangements.  Numerous  British  statutes 
had  been  enacted,  expressly  naming  and  legislating  for 
Ireland,  as  if  enacted  by  its  own  Parliaments.  All  these 
remained  still  in  activity,  and  great  inconvenience  must 
necessarily  have  arisen  from  an  immediate  and  indiscri- 
minate suspension  of  their  operation.  None  were  enacted 
in  Ireland  to  supply  their  places  ;  and  great  difficulties 
were  occurring.  Modern  England  could  not  be  humili- 
ited  by  generously  declaring  that  her  ancestors  had  ex- 
ceeded their  constitutional  authority  as  to  Ireland.  On 
».he  contrary,  it  should  have  been  her  proudest  boast  to 
have  done  justice  by  avowing  it.  This  was  not  humilia- 
tion— it  was  true  glory :  and  when  England,  shortly  after 
wards,  actually  renounced  for  ever,  by  the  act  of  her  own 
legislature,  her  domination  over  Ireland,  she  could  not 
have  been  much  gratified  by  the  temporizing  complaisance 
of  the  Irish  Parliament. 

IV.  It  is  also  very  remarkable,  that  though  Mr.  Walshe 
and  the  Recorder  alone  divided  against  the  address  of 
Mr.  Grattan,  in  a  very  short  time  afterwards  there  was 
scarcely  a  member  of  Parliament,  or  a  man  in  Ireland, 

*  The  arguments  used  by  Mr.  Flood  and  Mr.  Grattan  on  this  intricate 
point,  and  which  finally  decided  the  fate  of  Ireland,  branched  out  into 
«o  many  parts,  were  debated  with  such  ability  by  both  parties,  that 
though  the  arguments  may  be  compressed,  the  strength  and  beauty  of  the 
language  never  can  be  given  m  any  publication.  At  all  events,  those 
arguments  have  been  published  by  a  number  of  persons,  and  partly 
appear  in  Mr.  Grattan's  speeches,  published  by  his  son.  The  author, 
however,  never  being  on  that  point  of  the  same  opinion  as  Mr.  Grattan, 
mentioned  to  him  his  dissent  and  his  difficulty  as  to  the  terms  in  which 
he  should  publish  the  points  and  issue  of  those  arguments ;  and  the 
%uthor  has  no  mode  so  authentic  as  by  Mr.  Grattan's  letter  to  himself  on 
that  subject,  obviously  not  a  private  one,  but  rather  intended,  in  point  of 
•abject,  to  be  maie  public. 

03 


26<&  RISE    AND    PALL 

who  did  not  concur  decidedly  in  their  opinions,  and  even 
the  British  ministry  and  the  British  legislature,  by  their 
own  voluntary  act,  confirmed  their  doctrine.  Public  dis- 
cussions on  one  great  subject  seldom  fail  to  involve  reilec- 
tions  upon  others,  and  these  naturally  brought  the  Irish 
people  to  discuss  the  imperfections  of  their  own  Commons 
House  of  Parliament,  and  to  perceive,  that  without  a, 
comprehensive  reform  of  that  department,  there  was  no 
security  against  the  instability  of  events  and  the  duplicity 
of  England. 

The  following  letter,  however,  from  Mr.  Grattan  to  the 
author,  appears  to  throw  new  and  material  light  upon  the 
subject,  and  to  develop  the  individual  views  and  politics 
of  Mr.  Grattan  himself,  more  clearly  than  any  speech  or 
document  heretofore  published. 

This  letter  also  proves,  more  than  volumes,  the  insin- 
cerity of  the  Duke  of  Portland  and  the  English  Govern- 
ment :  their  distinction  between  the  words  "  recognised" 
and  "  established,"  leaves  their  political  reservation  be- 
yond the  reach  of  scepticism. 

This  letter  shows  palpably  the  ruin  that  a  want  oi 
co-operation  between  two  great  men  brought  upon  the 
country;  and,  above  all,  it  incidentally  exposes  the 
courtly,  credu^us,  and  feeble  politics  of  Earl  Charlemont, 
so  injurious  to  the  public  cause,  and  so  depressing  to  the 
vigour  and  energies  of  its  greatest  advocate. 

To  Mr.  Ponsonby's  chance  remissness  on  a  future  cri- 
sis, is  attributable  the  ultimate  loss  of  the  Irish  legisla- 
ture, as  Lord  Charlemont's  political  courtesy  was,  on  this, 
fatal  to  its  security.  Patriots  without  energy,  as  bees 
without  stings,  may  buz  in  sunshine,  but  can  neithei 
defend  their  hi\  e,  nor  assail  their  enemy. 

"  House  of  Commons,  London, 
"  March,  2nd. 
"  My  dear  Barrington, 

"  I  am  excessively  sorry  that  your  health  has  been 
impaired,  and  I  hope  it  will  soon  be  restored. 

"  I  will  get  you  the  Whig-C\wh  resolution.  They  pro- 
posed to  obtain  an  internal  reform  of  Parliament,  in  which 
they  partly  succeeded :  they  proposed  to  prevent  an 
union,  in  which  they  failed. 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  267 

"The  address  that  declared  no  politica.  question  ra 
mained  between  Vhe  two  countries,  had  in  view  to  stop 
the  growth  of  demand,  and  preserve  entire  the  annexation 
of  the  Crown.  It  was,  to  us,  an  object  to  prevent  any 
future  political  discussion  touching  the  relative  state  of 
the  two  countries ;  because  we  might  not  be  so  strong  as 
in  that  moment.  And  it  was  an  object  to  us,  and  to  the 
English  Minister,  to  guard  against  any  discussion  that 
might  shake  the  connection  to  which  we  were  equally 
attached.  Fox  wished  sincerely  for  the  liberty  of  Ireland 
without  reserve.  He  was  an  enemy  to  an  union,  and 
wished  the  freedom  to  be  annexed  to  his  name. 

"The  Act  of  repeal  was  a  part  of  a  treaty  with  Eng- 
land. A  declaratory  Act  of  title  is  the  affirmance  of  the 
existence  of  a  former  title :  the  repeal  is  a  disaffirmance 
of  any  such  former  title ;  the  more  so  when  accompanied 
by  a  transfer  of  the  possession,  viz.  the  transfer  of  the 
final  judicature  and  the  legislation  for  the  colony-trade  of 
the  new-acquired  islands,  made  in  consequence  of  a  pro- 
test by  Ireland  against  the  claim  of  England. 

"  The  repeal  was  not  any  confession  of  usurpation — it 
was  a  disclaimer  of  any  right.  You  must  suppose  what 
I  have  said,  unsaid.  A  man  of  spirit  may  say  that ;  but 
he  will  hesitate  to  unsay  word  by  word.  That  was  the 
case  of  England.  She  would  not  in  so  many  words  con- 
fess her  usurpation,  nor  did  she ;  on  the  contrary,  when 
they  pressed  her,  she  exercised  the  power,  and  said,  '  The 
constitution  of  Ireland  is  established  and  ascertained  in 
future  by  the  authority  of  the  British  Parliament.'  It 
was  proposed  in  the  House  of  Commons  to  change  the 
words,  and  say  '  recognised  for  ever.'  They  agreed  to 
the  words  '  for  ever/  and  refused  the  word  '  recognised/ 
and  kept  in  the  word  '  established.'  This,  I  call  making 
Ireland  free  with  a  vengeance. 

"  I  wish,  in  your  History,  you  would  put  down  the 
xrgument  on  both  sides.  I  can  get  you  Flood's  published 
by  his  authority. 

"  I  am  excessively  thankful  for  the  many  handsome 
things  you  have  said  of  me. 

"  Your's  most  truly, 

"  HENRY  GRATTAN. 
*  Chevalier  Barrington, 

"  Boulogne,  pres  Paris." 


RISE    AND    FALL 

V.  Their  late  constitutional  acquirements,  though 
apparently  confirmed  beyond  the  power  of  revocation, 
might  be  yet  a  precarious  tenure,  whilst  Ireland  had  a 
House  of  Commons,  so  framed  and  elected  as  to  be  sus- 
ceptible of  relapse  into  its  former  degradation;  and 
though  their  constitution  was  not  in  any  state  of  present 
danger,  future  insecurity  must  be  the  necessary  conse- 
quence of  a  feeble  or  corrupt  representation. 

Over  the  Lords  and  over  the  Crown,  the  control  of  the 
people  was  insufficient  and  uncertain.  It  was  just,  there- 
fore, that  they  should  have  a  counterpoise,  by  a  House  of 
Commons  of  their  own  free  selection ;  and  events  have 
since  proved  that  the  suspicions  were  prophetic. 

These,  and  such  like  reflections,  led  the  Irish  people 
gradually  according  to  their  capacities,  into  a  train  of 
constitutional  deductions ;  and  suggested  topics  as  to  the 
reform  and  purity  of  Parliament,  which  they  had  nevei 
before  thought  of. 

The  great  body  of  a  people  can  never  be  capable  of 
that  cool  and  discriminating  course  of  reasoning,  which 
individuals  or  limited  delegations  are  capable  of  exercising, 
hence  they  too  frequently,  in  great  general  assemblies, 
follow,  whether  right  or  wrong,  the  sentiments  of  those 
who  reason  more  plausibly  than  themselves,  or  whose 
elocution  grasps  at  their  feelings,  and  gives  them  a  fac- 
titious superiority  over  ordinary  understandings. 

It  wa*s  impossible  that  the  great,  body  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers,  which  had  now  assumed  the  guardianship  of 
Ireland,  could  be  capable  of  methodical,  deep,  systematic 
reasoning,  or  of  unerring  political  deduction  from  argu- 
ments of  enthusiastic  and  heated  orators ;  but  a  great 
proportion  of  them  reasoned  by  that  instinctive  power 
which  nature  confers  on  shrewd  uncultivated  capacities, 
and  on  none  more  than  the  humble  orders  of  the  Irish 
people ;  they  caught  the  strong  features  of  their  case  and 
their  constitution :  they  knew  that  they  had  contributed 
by  their  arms  and  by  their  energy,  to  the  common  cause 
of  their  country,  they  felt  that  they  had  been  victorious, 
they  listened  attentively  to  their  officers,  who,  more 
learned  than  the  soldiers,  endeavoured  to  adapt  their 
explanations  to  the  strong,  coarse  minds  which  they 
nought  to  enlighten,  they  instructed  them  as  to  existing 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  269 

circumstances,  and  tc  future  possibilities,  and  thus  en* 
deavoured  to  teach  those  whom  they  commanded,  not 
only  how  to  act,  but  why  that  principle  of  action  was 
demanded  by  their  country. 

At  this  time,  the  visionary  and  impracticable  theories 
of  more  modern  days  had  no  place  amongst  the  objects  of 
the  armed  societies  of  Ireland;  but  the  naturally  shrewd 
and  intelligent  capacities  of  the  Irish  people  were  easily 
convinced,  that  without  some  constitutional  reform  in  the 
mode  of  electing  the  Commons  House  of  Parliament,  they 
could  have  no  adequate  security  for  permanent  indepen- 
dence. They  learned  that  paroxysais  of  liberty  which  give 
rise  to  revolutions,  do  not  endure  for  ever,  and  that  the 
spirit  of  Irish  freedom,  which  had  effected  the  liberation 
of  their  country,  might  expire,  that  the  independence  of 
the  constitution,  unless  protected  by  a  free  parliament 
never  could  be  secure,  that  the  enemy  might  attempt  to 
regain  her  position,  and  that  the  battle  would  then  be 
fought  again  under  multiplied  disadvantages. 

Such  a  reform,  therefore,  as  might  insure  the  unin- 
fluenced election  and  individual  independence  of  the  Irish 
representatives,  appeared  to  be  indispensable,  not  as  a 
theoretical  innovation,  nor  of  a  revolutionary  complexion, 
but  as  a  practical  recurrence  to  the  first  and  finest 
elements  of  the  constitution  as  it  then  existed,  without 
any  diviation  from  the  principles  on  which  it  had  been 
with  so  much  wisdom  originally  constructed.  This  species 
of  reformation,  and  none  other,  was  that  which  the  Irish 
nation  so  judiciously  sought  for ;  nor  were  they  without 
high  authority  and  precedent  to  countenance  that  requi- 
sition. Mr.  Pitt,  that  great,  but  mischievous  and  mistaken 
statesman,  at  that  time  professed  himself  to  be  a  reforming 
patriot,  but  it  was  profession  only,  his  deep  and  solid  in- 
tellect was  soon  perverted  by  the  pride  of  his  successes, 
and  confidence  in  his  omnipotence.  He  reigned  at  an 
unexampled  era,  his  fertile  and  aspiring,  but  arrogant 
genius,  led  him  into  a  series  of  grand  and  magnificent 
delusions,  generating  systems  and  measures  which,  while 
professing  to  save,  sapped  the  outwork-3  of  the  British 
constitution,  and  accelerated,  if  not  caused,  the  financial 
ruin  in  which  he  left  his  country.  He,  however,  lived 
long  enough  to  rule  as  a  minister  by  that  system  of  cor- 

23* 


870  RISE    AND    FALL 

ruption  which,  as  a  patriot,  he  had  reprobated  ;  and  to 
extinguish  the  Irish  Parliament,  by  the  loyalty  and  at- 
tachment of  which  his  government  had  been  uniformly 
supported. 

The  Irish  people  coincided  with  Mr.  Pitt  as  to  the 
necessity  of  a  reform  ;  nor  did  the  leading  reformers  of 
Ireland  materially  differ  with  him  in  the  details  of  that 
reformation  :  the  principle  was  admitted  by  both  nations, 
but  Mr.  Flood  was  undisguised,  and  Mr.  Pitt  was  in 
masquerade. 

The  course  of  reasoning  which  led  the  armed  associa- 
tions of  Ireland  at  that  period  to  decide  upon  the  impe- 
rative necessity  of  a  reform  of  Parliament,  was  of  that 
sober  and  convincing  nature,  which  without  sophism  01 
declamation,  proves  itself  by  the  force  of  uncontrovertible 
premises,  and  of  plain  and  simple  deductions. 

VI.  1st.  It  could  not  be  denied  that  the  fundamental 
principle  of  the  British  constitution  is  a  perfect  relative 
equipoise  and  distinctiveness  of  its  three  component  es- 
tates, the  King,  the  Lords,  and  the  representatives  of  the 
people. 

2nd.  It  could  not  be  denied,  that  any  deviation  from 
that  equipoise  and  distinctiveness  necessarily  altered  the 
political  symmetry  of  the  whole,  and  destroyed  that 
counteracting  quality  of  the  three  estates,  on  the  preser- 
vation of  which  public  liberty  entirely  depended. 

3d.  It  could  not  be  denied  that  the  Members  of  the 
House  of  Commons,  forming  the  third  estate,  should,  by 
the  theory  of  the  constitution,  be  persons  freely  selected 
by  the  people  themselves,  to  guard  above  all  things 
against  any  coalition  of  the  other  estates,  (the  Crown  and 
the  Peers),  which  coalition  must  endanger  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  by  extending  the  prerogatives  and  powers  of 
ttw  Executive  Government  beyond  the  limits  the  consti- 
tution restrains  them  to. 

4  th.  It  could  not  be  denied,  that  any  one  individual, 
arrogating  to  himself,  and  actually  exercising  a  power  to 
nominate,  and  by  his  own  sole  will  elect  and  return  re- 
presentatives to  the  Commons  House  of  Parliament,  sent 
them  into  that  assembly,  not  to  speak  the  sentiments  of 
the  people,  but  the  sentiments  of  the  individual  who  no- 
minated them,  and  caused  an  immediate  deviation  from 


OF    THE    IRI»K    NATION.  271 

th«i  fundamental  principles  of  the  British  constitution; 
but' where  members  of  the  House  of  Peers  so  nominated 
ind  returned  persons  to  sit  and  vote  as  members  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  it  was,  in  fact,  the  House  of  Peers 
voting  by  proxy  in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  thereby  at 
Mice  destroying  the  independence  and  distinctiveness  of 
die  third  estate,  and  enabling  the  Crown  and  the  Peers, 
&y  coalition,  to  control  the  Commons,  and  establish  a 
despotic  throne  and  an  arbitrary  aristocracy. 

The  power,  therefore,  constitutionally  conferred  on  the 
King  by  his  royal  prerogative  of  creating  Peers,  coupled 
with  the  power  unconstitutionally  practised  by  Peers,  of 
creating  Commoners,  left  the  people  no  sufficiently 
counteracting  constitutional  protection  for  their  liberties. 

5th.  It  conld  not  be  denied,  that  purchasing  the  repre- 
sentation of  the  people  in  the  Commons  House  of  Par- 
liament for  money,  and  selling  the  exercise  of  that  repre- 
sentation for  office,  was  a  constitutional  crime  of  great 
magnitude ;  and  that  when  such  a  practice  was  publicly 
countenanced,  it  of  course  destroyed  the  purity  of  Parlia- 
ment, the  principle  of  representation,  and  safeguard  of 
the  constitution. 

But  if  these  purchases  were  made  by  servants  of  the 
Executive  Government,  in  trust,  for  the  uses  and  purposes 
of  its  ministers  to  enable  them  to  carry  measures  through 
the  legislature,  which  their  naked  strength,  official 
character,  or  the  merits  of  the  measure,  might  be  unable 
to  effect,  it  was  unequivocal  that  such  practices  put  an 
end  totally  to  all  security  in  the  constitution,  and  that  the 
people  must  owe  the  enjoyment  of  their  liberties  only  to 
the  timidity,  the  forbearance,  or  the  possible  wisdom  of 
an  official  oligarchy. 

The  Volunteers  now  examined  existing  matters  of  fact 
in  Ireland  as  applicable  to  these  premises,  and  comparing 
the  one  with  the  other,  the  conclusion  became  so  plain 
and  obvious  to  the  humblest  capacities,  that  the  necessity 
of  reform  01  modification  in  the  mode  of  electing 
members  for  the  Parliament  of  Ireland,  required  no 
further  argument. 

To  ascertain  the  relative  matters  of  fact,  as  applicable 
to  these  premises,  the  Volunteers  caused  to  be  printed 
Bind  published,  lists  of  their  House  of  Commons,  desig 


272  RISE    AND    FALL 

nating  the  mode  of  election  of  every  individual;  thi 
individual  by  whose  personal  influence  each  representative 
was  elected;  the  number  of  persons  who  nominally 
returned  the  member ;  and,  as  far  as  could  be  ascertained, 
the  money  or  valuable  consideration,  paid  for  such  uncon- 
stitutional representation.  The  result  of  the  inquiry  left 
no  room  to  doubt  the  applicability  of  those  inquiries  to  a 
great  proportion  of  the  Commons  House  of  Parliament. 
The  Earl  of  Ely  nominated  nine  members  to  the  House 
of  Commons.  The  Earl  of  Shannon  nominated  seven ; 
and  above  twenty  other  members  of  the  House  of  Lords 
nominated  and  elected  members  for  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. Many  individuals  openly  sold  their  patronage,  for 
money,  to  the  best  bidder,  others  returned  members  at 
the  nomination  of  the  Viceroy  or  his  secretary ;  and  it 
appeared  that  the  number  of  representatives  elected  freely 
by  the  people,  upon  constitutional  principles,  did  not 
compose  one-fourth  of  the  Irish  Commons. 

VII.  An  internal  reform  of  Parliament  was,  on  full 
consideration,  deemed  quite  incompetent  to  meet  the 
danger.  Numerous  statutes  had  been  passed  to  punish, 
as  a  public  crime,  the  bribery  of  an  elector ;  but  no  law 
reached  the  individual  who  possessed  and  exercised  an 
influence  over  electors,  and  then  secretly  sold  that  in- 
fluence for  money  or  for  title.  The  elector  who  corruptly 
voted,  was  considered  as  a  criminal ;  but  the  man  who 
corruptly  bought  and  sold  his  vote,  was  tolerated.  On 
the  fullest  investigation,  therefore,  it  appeared  that  in 
Ireland  the  third  estate  was,  in  a  considerable  degree, 
nominated  by  the  second  estate ;  that  both  the  second  and 
third  estates  were*  influenced  by  the  first  estate  ;  and  that 
the  whole  symmetry  and  equipoise  of  the  constitution 
were  theoretic,  but  had  no  solid  or  permanent  existence. 

The  Volunteers  at  length  determined  to  demand  a 
reform  of  Parliament,  and  to  bring  the  measure  before 
the  existing  Commons  in  a  garb  which  they  conceived 
would  render  it  irresistible :  and  from  that  determination 
arose  the  formation  of  a  national  representative  convention 
of  patriotic  delegates  selected  from  the  armed  regiments, 
tne  most  extraordinary,  animating,  but  unprecedented 
assembly  ever  yet  beheld  in  the  midst  of  a  people,  at  the* 
moment  enjoying  an  ascertained  constitution. 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  273 

Had  this  assembly  been  conducted  with  discriminating 
caution  and  unflinching  firmness,  it  might  have  attained 
all  its  objects,  and  have  effected  a  complete  renovation  of 
the  British  constitution,  through  the  Irish  people.  England 
would  not  long  have  delayed  acting  on  the  successful  pre- 
cedent of  Ireland.  This  extraordinary  meeting,  however, 
though  its  objects  were  not  effectuated,  brought  forward  a 
great  mass  of  talent  and  of  patriotism  which  had  there- 
tofore lain  dormant. 

During  the  progress  of  all  political  reforms  and  revo- 
lutions, men  have  been  frequently  found  pressing  them- 
selves forward  into  public  notice,  solely  by  the  strength  of 
their  talents  and  the  power  of  their  energies ;  springing 
at  once  from  the  humblest  ranks  of  obscurity,  to  the  high 
est  class  of  reputation. 

One  of  these  luminaries  was  about  this  period  seen 
arising  in  Ireland,  whose  celebrity  in  that  country  had  no 
competitor. 

John  Philpot  Curran,  a  person  of  humble  origin,  of 
careless  habits,  and  contemptible  exterior,  rose  at  once  to 
give  new  lustre  and  spirit  to  an  already  highly  enlightened 
and  spirited  profession.  He  had  passed  through  the 
University  of  Dublin  unsignalised  by  any  very  peculiar 
honours;  and  was  admitted  to  the  Irish  bar,  scarcely 
known,  and  totally  unpatronised.  With  the  higher  orders, 
he  had  no  intercourse,  and  had  contracted  manners,  and 
adopted  a  kind  of  society,  tending  rather  to  disqualify  hirn 
for  advancement :  but  whatever  disadvantages  he  suffered 
from  humble  birth,  were  soon  lost  sight  of  amidst  the 
brilliancy  of  his  talent,  and  a  comparison  of  what  he  had 
been,  with  what  he  rose  to,  rendered  the  attainments  of 
his  genius  the  more  justly  celebrated.  Never  did  eloquence 
appear  in  so  many  luminous  forms,  or  so  many  affecting 
modulations,  as  in  that  gifted  personage.  Every  quality 
which  could  form  a  popular  orator  was  in  him  combined ; 
arH  ii  seemed  as  if  nature  had  stolen  some  splendid 
attribute  from  all  former  declaimers  to  deck  out  and 
embellish  her  adopted  favourite.  On  ordinary  occasions, 
his  language  was  copious,  frequently  eloquent,  yet  gene- 
rally unequal,  but,  on  great  ones,  the  variety  of  his  elo- 
cution, its  luxuriance,  its  effect,  were  quite  unrivalled 
3ciemn,  lulicrous,  dramatic,  argumentative,  humourous 


874  RISE    AND    FALL 

sublime,  in  irony,  invincible,  in  pathos,  overwhelming, 
in  the  alternations  of  bitter  invective  and  of  splendid 
eulogy,  totally  unparalleled  ;  wit  relieved  the  monotony 
of  narrative,  and  classic  imagery  elevated  the  rank  ol 
forensic  declamation.  The  wise,  the  weak,  the  vulgar, 
the  elevated,  the  ignorant,  the  learned,  heard  and  were 
affected,  he  had  language  for  them  all.  He  commanded, 
alternately,  the  tear  or  the  laugh  ;  and  at  all  times  acquired 
a  despotic  ascendency  over  the  most  varied  auditory. 

These  were  the  endowments  of  early  Curran  ;  and  these 
were  the  qualities  which,  united  to  an  extraordinary  pro- 
fessional versatility,  enabled  him  to  shoot  like  a  meteor 
beyond  the  sphere  of  all  his  contemporaries. 

In  private  and  convivial  society,  many  of  his  public 
qualities  accompanied  him  in  their  fullest  vigour.  His 
wit  was  infinite  and  indefatigable.  A  dramatic  eye  anti- 
cipated the  flights  of  an  unbounded  fancy ;  but  the  flashes 
of  his  wit  never  wounded  the  feelings  of  his  society; 
except,  perhaps,  those  minds  of  contracted  jealousy,  which 
shrink  up  from  the  reluctant  consciousness  of  inferiority. 
He  was,  however,  at  times,  very  unequal.  As  in  a  great 
metropolis  (to  use  one  of  his  own  illustrations,) "  the  palace 
and  the  hovel,  splendour  and  squalidness,  magnificence 
and  misery,  are  seen  grouped  and  contrasting  within  the 
same  precincts  :"  there  were  occasions  when  his  wit  sunk 
into  ribaldry,  his  sublimity  degenerated  to  grossness,  and 
his  eloquence  to  vulgarity ;  yet  his  strength  was  evident 
even  in  his  weakness.  Hercules,  spinning  as  a  concubine, 
still  was  Hercules ;  and,  probably,  had  Curran  been  devoid 
of  these  singular  contrarieties,  he  might  have  glided  into 
a  brilliant  sameness ;  and,  like  his  great  contemporary, 
Burgh,  though  a  more  admired  man,  he  would  probably 
have  been  a  less  celebrated  personage. 

The  innumerable  difficulties  he  had  to  encounter  in 
early  life,  were  not  easy  to  conquer ;  but  once  conquered, 
they  added  an  impetus  to  his  progress.  His  ordinary, 
mean,  and  trifling  person;  his  culpable  negligence  of 
dress,  and  all  those  disadvantageous  attributes  of  early 
indigence,  were  imperceptible  or  forgotten  amidst  his 
talents,  which  seldom  failed  to  gain  a  decided  victory  over 
the  prejudices  even  of  those  who  were  predetermined  to 
condemn  him. 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  275 

His  political  life  was  unvaried :  from  the  moment  he 
became  a  Member  of  the  Irish  Parliament  his  temperature 
never  changed.  He  pursued  the  same  course,  founded  on 
the  same  principles.  He  had  closely  connected  himself 
in  party  and  in  friendship  with  Mr.  George  Ponsonby  j 
but  he  more  than  equalled  that  gentleman  in  the  sincerity 
of  his  politics.  From  the  commencement  to  the  conclusion 
of  his  public  life,  he  was  the  invariable  advocate  of  the 
[rish  people ;  he  never  for  a  moment  deserted  their  in- 
terest or  abandoned  their  defence.  He  started  from 
obscurity  with  the  love  of  Ireland  in  his  heart ;  and  while 
that  heart  beat,  it  was  his  ruling  passion. 

As  a  mere  lawyer,  he  was  in  no  estimation ;  but,  as  an 
able  advocate,  he  had  no  rival ;  and,  in  his  skill  and  powers 
of  interrogation,  he  vastly  excelled  all  his  rivals.  He  never 
failed  to  uphold  the  rights  and  independence  of  the  Irish 
bar,  on  every  occasion  where  its  privileges  were  trenched 
upon ;  and  the  Bench  trembled  before  him  when  it  merited 
his  animadversions.  None  ever  assailed  him  publicly, 
who  was  not  overthrown  in  the  contest ;  and  even  the 
haughty  arrogance  of  Fitzgibbon  seldom  hazarded  an 
attack,  being  certain  of  discomfiture.* 

Mr.  Curran  was  appointed  Master  of  the  Rolls  (Mr. 
Ponsonby  then  Lord  Chancellor.)  He  was  disappointed 
in  not  obtaining  a  legal  situation  more  adapted  to  his  des- 
cription of  talents.  He  was  also  chagrined  at  not  having 
obtained  a  seat  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  and  at  length 
resigned  his  office,  upon  a  pension  of  2,700£.  per  annum. 
He  died  at  Brompton,  on  the  14th  of  October,  1817,  after 
a  short  illness,  and  now  "  not  a  stone  tells  where  he  lies." 
His  funeral  was  private,  and  he  was  buried  in  the  yard 
of  Paddington  Church.  The  Author  knew  him.  He  had 
too  much  talent  to  last,  every  thing  is  worn  out  by  inces- 
sant action.  He  was  never  fond  of  show,  and  in  his  lattei 
days  he  both  sought  and  obtained  obscurity.  Of  the  close 
of  his  life  I  have  heard  much,  and  credit  little. 

•  Mr.  Curran  and  Lord  Clare,  whilst  the  latter  was  Attorney  General, 
had  on  one  occasion  a  controversy  which  could  only  be  terminated  by  a 
personal  battle.  The  combatants  fired  two  cases  of  very  long  pistols  at 
each  other,  but  certainly  with  very  bad  success  and  very  little  eclat ;  for 
they  were  neither  killed,  wounded,  satisfied,  nor  reconciled;  nor  did 
either  of  them  express  the  slightest  disposition  to  continue  the  engagement 


t7G  frtSE    AND   FALL 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

Volunteers  received  by  the  King — Happy  state  of  Ireland — Progressive" 
ly  prosperous — Untoward  consequences  of  the  collision  between  Flood 
and  Grattan — A  second  Dungannon  meeting  of  delegated  Volunteers — 
Mr.  Flood  gains  ground — Arguments — A  National  Convention  decided 
on — Their  first  meeting  —  Interesting  procession  of  the  Delegates 
described — Entrance  of  the  Delegates — Extraordinary  coincidence  of 
localities— Embarrassing  situation — The  Delegates  meet  at  the  Ro- 
tunda. 

L  That  unparalleled  army,  the  Irish  Volunteers,  had 
now  ascended  to  the  zenith  of  their  character  and  pros- 
perity. They  had  liberated  their  country  from  a  thraldom 
of  seven  centuries,  their  numbers,  their  attitude,  and  re- 
spectability, had  conquered  their  independence  from  a 
more  powerful  nation,  without  bloodshed.  The  King 
received  at  his  court,  and  his  levees,  with  apparent  cordi- 
ality, Volunteer  officers  and  soldiers  who  without  his 
authority,  formed  an  army  unconnected  with  his  Crown, 
and  independent  of  his  Government :  they  acted  without 
pay,  and  submitted  to  discipline  without  coercion. 

The  regular  forces  paid  them  military  honours  ;  the 
Parliament  repeatedly  thanked  them  for  supporting  a 
constitution  upon  which  their  establishment  had  undoubt- 
edly encroached.  They  were  adored  by  the  people, 
dreaded  by  the  Minister,  honoured  by  the  King,  and  cele- 
brated through  Europe.  They  had  raised  their  country 
from  slavery,  and  they  supported  their  Monarch  agains* 
nis  enemies.  They  were  loyal,  but  determined  to  be  free ; 
and  if  their  Parliament  had  been  honest,  Ireland  would 
have  kept  her  rank,  and  the  nation  preserved  its  tranquil- 
lity. The  rise  and  progress  of  that  institution  have  been 
already  traced ;  its  decline  and  fall  must  now  be  recorded. 

At  this  period,  Ireland  appeared  to  have  nothing  to  de- 
sire but  capital  and  industry.  She  was  free,  she  was  in- 
dependent, populous,  powerful  and  patriotic  ;  her  debt  did 
not  exceed  her  means  of  payment  ;  but  of  trading  capital 


OP    THE     IRISH    NATION.  277 

ihe  had  insufficient  means,  and  her  industry  was  cramp- 
ed by  the  narrowness  of  her  resources.  All  the  materials 
and  elements  of  industry  were  within  her  own  realm, 
and  the  freedom  of  trade  she  had  acquired,  now  promised 
a  stimulus  to  her  commerce  which  she  had  never  before 
experienced.  The  people  were  united ;  Catholic  and 
Protestant  were  on  the  most  cordial  terms  ;  the  voice  of 
patriotism  had  exorcised  the  spirit  of  discord,  the  Catholic 
for  the  moment  forgot  his  chains,  and  the  Protestant  no 
longer  recollected  his  ascendency ;  peace,  order,  and  se- 
curity, extended  over  the  whole  Island  ;  no  army  was 
required  to  defend  the  coasts,  no  police  was  wanted  to 
preserve  tranquillity,  neither  loreign  nor  domestic  enemies 
could  succeed  against  a  prospering  and  united  people. 

Had  the  ardent  nature  of  Ireland  been  then  tempered 
by  calm  and  persevering  judgment,  had  ordinary  fore- 
sight controlled  or  guided  her  zeal,  and  had  rational  seep- 
ticism  moderated  her  enthusiasm,  one  short  session  of 
her  own  Parliament  might  have  intrenched  her  indepen 
dence,  and  established  her  constitution,  beyond  the  power 
or  the  influence  of  all  her  enemies. 

Untoward  destiny,  however,  had  decreed  that  unfor- 
tunate and  ever  mal-governed  Island  to  fall  into  the  error 
by  which  individuals  so  often  meet  their  ruin.  Having 
obtained  successes  beyond  their  expectation,  a  mist  ob- 
scures their  vision  ;  they  know  not  where  to  stop,  they 
rush  blindly  to  the  dangers  that  surround  them,  and  lose 
by  indiscretion  what  they  had  achieved  by  fortitude. 

It  was  justly  feared  that  the  too  sensitive,  credulous, 
and  enthusiastic  Irish,  in  a  fallacious  paroxysm  of  grati- 
tude, might  raise  the  drawbridge  of  their  fortress  for  the 
admission  of  their  enemies,  and,  amidst  the  dissensions 
of  the  most  able  and  honest  of  their  warders,*  those  who 
sought  their  overthrow  might  again  penetrate  into  her 
citadel. 

II.  The  unfortunate  difference  of  sentiments  between 
Mr.  Flood  and  Mr.  Grattan,  by  enfeebling  the  authority 

*  The  jealousies,  the  adverse  feelings,  and  discordant  proceedings  oi 
Mr.  Flood  and  Mr.  Grattan,  and  their  partisans,  prevented  tne  adoption 
of  measures  which  might  have  secured  the  country  against  any  attempt 
at  union  or  annexation.  See  the  speech  of  Lord  Castlereagh ,  on  15lh 
January,  1S00. 

24 


278  RlSte    AND    FALL 

of  both,  had  diminished  the  security  of  the  nation.  Mr 
Flood's  diffidence  of  government  was  most  congenial  to 
the  prospective  interests  of  a  people  long  enslaved.  The* 
energy  of  patriots  had  achieved,  but  it  required  the  wisdom 
of  statesmen  to  secure,  their  newly-acquired  constitution. 
Both,  however,  united  in  opinion  as  to  the  necessity  of  a 
free  and  independent  Parliament  to  piotect  that  constitu- 
tion ;  but  no  unanimity  existed  betueen  theinor  through- 
out the  country,  as  to  the  details  of  that  m»MSure. 

By  this  unfortunate  collision,  the  old  courtiers  obtained 
breathing  time,  and  the  Minister  acquired  hope.  The 
hundred  eyes  of  the  British  Argus  were  keen  to  discover 
the  failings  and  frailties  of  the  Irish  patriot?  ;  nor  did 
they  watch  long  in  vain;  for  a  measure,  v^hich  forms  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  incidents  of  Iiidh  History,  soon 
gave  the  English  Government  an  opportunity  o/  resuming 
its  operations  against  that  devoted  country. 

The  line  of  reasoning  already  described,  as  to  the  state 
of  the  Parliament,  and  the  necessity  for  its  reform,  made 
a  deep  and  general  impression,  and  was  indefatigably 
circulated  throughout  the  whole  nation.  Discontent 
quickly  sprang  up  amongst  the  people,  and  their  meetings 
increased.  At  length  delegates  from  several  Volunteer 
regiments  again  assembled  at  Dungannon,  to  consider  the 
expediency  and  means  of  an  immediate  reform  of  Parlia- 
ment. Hence  originated  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
scenes  in  the  annals  of  any  country. 

III.  Mr.  Flood  was  now  considered  the  most  able  leader 
of  the  Irish  patriots.  Those  who  supported  his  opinions 
still  pertinaciously  contended,  that  the  measures  already 
conceded  were  not,  in  themselves,  guarantees  for  the  con- 
stitution which  had  been  acquired,  or  in  any  respect  suf- 
ficient for  the  preservation  of  independence ;  that  confi- 
dence in  the  existing  state  of  her  Parliament,  would  lull 
the  nation  into  a  fatal  slumber,  from  which  she  might  be 
awakened  only  by  a  new  assault  upon  her  freedom ;  and 
that  no  arrangement,  without  an  explicit,  formal,  and  un- 
equivocal recantation  by  England,  of  her  original  usur- 
pations, ought  to  have  been  accepted.  They  urged  that 
such  an  avowal  would  certainly  have  been  obtained,  if  the 
Parliament  had  not  been  corrupted  or  deceived.  They 
eontended.  that  if  England  should  refuse  such  a  declara- 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  27i 

tion,  that,  in  itself,  would  be  positive  proof  of  her  general 
insincerity  ;  aud  that  if  she  haughtily  persisted  in  retain- 
ing the  theory  of  her  usurpation,  after  the  practice  of  it 
had  been  relinquished,  it  was  evident  she  would  watch 
the  first  favourable  moment  to  impose  still  stronger  chains 
than  those  that  she  had  loosened. 

This  strong  language  had  already  been  freely  used  to 
rouse  the  friends  of  Ireland  to  a  conviction  of  the  versa- 
tility which  her  Representatives  had  given  such  practical 
proofs  of.  It  was  most  assiduously  disseminated,  and  not 
without  foundation,  that  the  Irish  Parliament,  in  its  re- 
cent proceedings,  had  clearly  evinced  more  talent  than 
prudence,  and  less  wisdom  than  declamation  ;  that  whilst 
patriots  were  debating  in  the  House,  the  Secretary  was 
negociating  in  the  corridor ;  and  therefore  it  was  necessary 
to  the  public  safety  to  strangle  corruption  in  its  cradle, 
and  give  the  people  a  due  confidence  in  the  integrity  of 
their  Representatives. 

It  was  considered,  by  many  men  of  influence  and  for- 
tune, that  a  reform  of  the  Commons  House  of  Parliament 
was  attainable,  and  should  be  then  attained.  The  na- 
tional arrangements  daily  appeared  more  imperfect,  for 
they  had  not  been  conducted  with  the  sound  principles  of 
cautious  statesmen,  nor  had  satisfactory  guarantees  been 
established  for  their  future  security.  As  Parliament  was 
then  returned,  no  well-founded  confidence  could  be  placed 
in  its  permanent  protection  ;  and  it  was  most  judiciously 
stated  by  Mr.  Flood,  that  the  speech  of  a  puzzled  Min- 
ister, put  into  the  mouth  of  an  embarrassed  Monarch, 
was  at  that  moment  the  only  security  for  the  continuance 
of  Ireland  as  an  independent  nation  ;  that  such  indepen- 
dence might  rest  solely  upon  a  single  word  of  two  sylla- 
bles,* on  which  every  future  Minister  might  found  falla- 
cious reasoning,  and  place  his  own  equivocal  construc- 
tion.    This  was,  in  truth,  prophetic. 

It  was  also  more  than  insinuated,  by  men  of  clear  anu 
dispassionate  judgment,  that  the  struggles  in  Parliament 
were  becoming  rather  for  the  supremacy  of  men  and  party, 
than  for  the  preservation  of  the  Constitution  ;  that  they 
were  blind,  rancorous,  and  ill-timed  individual  contests', 
dangerous  to  the  state,  and  irritating  to  the  people.  They 
•  The  word  Fined 


290  RISE    AND    FALL 

argued,  that  the  piercing  eye  of  the  British  Minister  woiiad 
not  fail  to  watch  for  the  moment  when,  the  Irish  being 
enfeebled  by  their  dissensions,  he  might  destroy  that  in- 
dependence which  the  architects  of  1782  had  attempted 
to  establish,  without  guarding  against  the  insecurity  of  the 
foundation.  So  far  these  argument?  were  true,  but  men 
stopped  not  here.  It  was  suggested  that  a  requisition  to 
the  Parliament,  to  reform  itself,  urged  by  the  people, 
in  their  civil  capacities  only,  might  not  have  sufficient 
weight  to  command  attention.  If,  however,  300  delegates 
were  chosen  by  Volunteer  regiments,  from  men  of  fortune, 
influence,  and  character,  it  would  prove  to  the  Parliament 
that  a  reform  was  required  by  those  who  had  a  right  to 
require  it,  and  could  enforce  it.  They  might  send  the 
heads  of  a  Bill  to  Parliament  through  the  hands  of  their 
own  members  ;  such  a  mode  of  presentation  could  create 
no  cavil ;  and,  above  all,  the  very  same  men  who  would 
deliberate  as  volunteer  delegates,  and  prepare  such  a  bill, 
would  be,  in  a  great  measure,  those  who,  in  their  civil 
capacities,  composed  the  several  grand  juries  of  the  na- 
tion, many  of  them  being  members  of  the  Legislature. 
The  measure  was  almost  unanimously  determined  upon, 

IV.  Three  hundred  delegates  were  now  chosen  by  dif- 
ferent corps,  and  the  10th  of  November  (1783)  was  pro- 
claimed for  the  first  sitting  of  the  Grand  National  Con- 
vention of  Ireland,  within  the  precincts  of  the  two  Houses 
of  Parliament,  the  members  of  which  were  at  the  same 
period  exercising  their  legislative  functions.  Never  wa.i 
any  country  placed  in  a  more  extraordinary  or  critical 
situation. 

This  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland  was  then  seriously  fell 
by  the  English  Cabinet,  it  became  alarmed.  Ireland  now 
stood  in  a  high  station.  No  longer  (in  the  language  of 
Mr.  Gibbon)  a  remote  and  obscure  Island,  she  formed  8 
new  feature  on  the  face  of  Europe,  and  might  assert  her 
rank  amongst  the  second  order  of  European  nations.  In 
constitution  and  in  laws,  municipal  and  international,  she 
was  fundamentally  the  same  as  England  ;  her  legislature 
was,  in  theory,  altogether  independent.  The  individuality 
of  their  joint  Monarch  constituted  the  indefeasible  basis 
of  their  federative  connection ;  but  their  respective  Par- 
liaments alone  could  make  laws  to  bind  their  respective 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  281 

p&ople,  to  regulate  their  own  commerce,  and  to  pay  theii 
own  armies.  Ireland  had  wisely  and  magnanimously  re- 
corded her  loyalty,  and  proclaimed  her  determination, 
that  "  tvhilst  she  snared  the  liberty,  she  would  share  the 
fate  of  the  British  nation  ; "  but  the  compact  was  recipro- 
cal, and  she  had  bound  herself  no  further. 

England  could  not  with  apathy  regard  a  militaiy  Con- 
vention, meeting  and  operating  on  political  subjects,  in 
the  centre  of  the  Irish  Metropolis. 

The  attention  of  England  was  by  the  adoption  of  these 
extraordinary  proceedings  naturally  roused  to  a  more 
detailed  review  of  the  statistical  circumstances  of  Ireland 
By  the  acquisition  of  a  free  commerce,  and  of  unshackled 
manufactures,  the  revenue  and  resources  of  Ireland  con- 
sequently became  susceptible  of  extraordinary  improve- 
ment, and  might  soon  have  equalled  those  of  many 
continental  nations,  and  solely  at  her  own  disposal  and 
appropriation. 

In  the  capability  of  military  power  also  she  had  few 
rivals;  at  that  period  she  contained,  (and  continues  to 
contain)  more  fighting  men,  or  men  who  love  fighting, 
and  who  might  be  collected  in  a  week,  than  any  other 
state  in  Europe.  The  powerful  and  elevated  position  she 
was  then  about  to  occupy,  and  the  unprecedented  steps 
by  which  she  had  mounted  to  that  eminence,  could  not  be 
regarded  without  strong  feelings  of  solicitude  by  the 
sister  country. 

The  example  of  Ireland  had  afforded  a  grave  and 
instructive  lesson  to  an  oppressed  and  vassal  people,  and 
a  wholesome  lecture  to  griping  and  monopolising  govern- 
ments. Of  all  the  extraordinary  circumstances  which  the 
state  of  Ireland  then  displayed,  none  was  beheld,  at  that 
critical  period,  with  such  mingled  wonder  and  alarm  by 
England,  as  the  rapid  progress. of  the  Volunteer  associa- 
tions. And  the  bold  step  of  a  delegated  convention,  the 
increasing  numbers,  discipline,  and  energy  of  that  military 
institution,  had  no  precedent,  nor  in  the  changed  state 
of  Europe,  can  the  phenomenon  ever  appear  in  any 
country. 

The  Volunteers,  now  actually  armed  and  disciplined, 
and  whose  delegates  were  now  to  be  assembled  were  said 
to  exceed  150,000  organzied  men.     But   whatever  the 

24* 


£82  RISE    AND    FALL 

force  then  was,  the  Volunteer  recruits,  if  called  on,  would 
have  comprised  the  male  inhabitants  of  nearly  the  whole 
island,  including  every  rank,  religion,  and  occupation. 

Such  a  force,  though  self-levied,  self-officered,  and 
utterly  independent  of  any  control  or  subjection,  save  tc 
their  own  chosen  chiefs,  still  remained  in  perfect  harmony 
amongst  themselves,  in  entire  obedience  to  the  municipal 
laws  of  the  country,  holding  the  most  friendly  and  intimate 
intercourse  with  the  regular  forces,  and  by  their  activity 
and  local  knowledge,  preserving  their  country  in  a  state 
of  general  and  unprecedented  tranquillity. 

This  extraordinary  military  body,  equally  ready  to  shed 
their  blood  in  opposing  a  foreign  enemy,  supporting  theii 
own  liberties,  or  defending  those  of  England,  combining 
the  moral  and  physical  powers,  and  nearly  the  entire 
wealth,  of  an  immense  population,  nothing  could  have 
resisted;  and  whatever  ground  of  alarm  the  British 
Government  might  then  have  felt,  had  ministers  been 
mad  enough,  at  that  period,  to  have  attempted  its  direc; 
or  compulsory  suppression,  instead  of  its  attachment  to 
the  sister  country,  the  result  would  inevitably  have  been 
a  prompt  separation  of  the  two  islands. 

Ireland  was  in  this  state  at  the  first  meeting  of  the 
National  Convention,  and  the  Parliament  assembled  about 
the  same  time.  The  Volunteer  elections  were  quickly 
ended  without  tumult  or  opposition,  and  their  300 
delegates,  each  escorted  by  small  detachments  of  Volun- 
teers from  their  respective  counties,  entered  the  metropolis, 
and  were  universally  received  with  a  respect  and  cor- 
diality impossible  to  be  depicted ;  yet,  all  was  harmony 
and  peace.  Many  men  of  large  fortune,  many  of  great 
talent,  and  many  members  of  the  Lords  and  Commons, 
had  been  elected  delegates  by  the  Volunteers,  and  took 
upon  themselves  the  double  functions  of  Parliament  and 
of  the  Convention. 

The  Royal  Exchange  of  Dublin  was  first  selected  for 
the  meeting  of  the  Volunteer  delegates.  Whoever  has 
seen  the  metropolis  of  Ireland  must  admire  the  external 
architecture  of  that  building ;  but  it  was  found  inadequate 
to  the  accommodation  of  a  very  large  deliberative  assem- 
bly. It  was  therefore  determined  that  the  Rotunda 
'beiu  g  then  the  finest  room  in  Ireland)  was  best  adapted 


Of    THE    IRISH    NATION.  283 

for  the  meeting  of  the  National  Convention.  This  was. 
and  continues  to  be,  the  great  assembly-room  of  Dublin 
It  consists  of  a  circular  saloon  of  very  large  dimensions, 
connected  with  numerous  and  very  spacious  chambers, 
and  terminates  Sackville  street,  the  finest  of  the  Irish 
metropolis.  It  is  surmounted  by  a  dome,  exceeding  in 
diameter  the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  and  was  perfectly 
adapted  to  the  accommodation  of  a  popular  assembly. 

This  saloon  and  the  connected  chambers  had  been  fitted 
up  for  the  important  purpose  to  which  they  were  to  be 
appropriated.  But  little  did  the  Irish  people  conceive, 
that  what  they  then  considered  as  the  proudest  day  their 
nation  had  ever  seen,  only  preceded  a  little  time  her 
national  dissolution,  and  even  prepared  the  grave  in  which 
her  new-gained  independence  was  to  be  inhumated.  Every 
measure,  however,  had  been  previously  taken  to  prepare 
that  splendid  chamber  for  this  unparalleled  assembly, 
and  to  receive  the  delegates  and  their  escorts  with  every 
possible  mark  of  respect  and  dignity.  Volunteer  grena- 
diers were  ordered  to  attend  on  the  Convention  as  a 
guard  of  honour  during  their  sittings,  and  to  mount  an 
officer's  guard  at  the  house  of  the  President;  whilst 
Volunteer  dragoons  patrolled  during  the  sittings,  in  the 
utmost  tranquillity,  throughout  the  entire  city.  The 
detachments  of  country  corps,  who  had  escorted  their 
delegates,  having  a  great  emulation  as  to  their  appearance 
and  acquipments  on  this  grand  occasion,  had  new  dresses 
and  accoutrements,  and  it  was  agreeable  to  see  the  noble 
hunters  on  which  a  great  proportion  of  the  cavalry  were 
mounted.  The  horse  had  entered  Dublin  in  very  small 
detachments,  from  exceedingly  numerous  corps,  and  when 
occasionally  formed  into  line,  the  great  variety  of  their 
dresses,  ensigns  and  equipments,  presented  a  splendid, 
but  very  striking  and  singular  appearance.* 

*  The  author  had  been  sent  to  town  with  a  detachment  of  his  father's 
cavalry  corps,  the  "  Cullenagh  Rangers;"  their  undress  was  white,  with 
black  velvet  facings,  the  full  dress,  scarlet.  At  the  head  of  these  few 
men,  the  author  felt  prouder  than  an  Emperor,  it  nmde  an  impression  on 
his  youthful  mind,  which,  even  in  the  chill  of  age,  is  still  vivid  and  ani- 
mating, a  glowing  patriotism,  a  military  feeling,  and  an  instinctive, 
though  a  senseless  lust  for  actual  service,  arose  within  him,  a  sensation 
which  is  certainly  inherent  in  a  great  proportion  of  the  Irish  people,  ani' 
which  seldom  forsakes  them  but  with  their  lives 


884  RISE    AND    FALL 

The  citizens  of  Dublin  excelled  in  their  hospitality 
they  appeared  in  crowds  every  where,  forcing  their  invi- 
tations on  the  country  Volunteers,  every  soldier  had  nu- 
merous billets  preased  into  his  hand,  every  householder 
who  could  afford  it,  vied  in  entertaining  his  guests  with 
zeal  and  cordiality.  Every  thing  was  secure  and  tranquil, 
but  when  it  was  considered  that  300  members  hid  vir- 
tually proclaimed  a  concurrent  Parliament,  under  the 
title  of  a  National  Convention,  and  were  about  to  lead  a 
splendid  procession  through  the  body  of  the  city,  to  hold 
its  sittings  within  view  of  the  Houses  of  Legislature,  the 
affairs  of  Ireland  seemed  drawing  fast  to  some  decisive 
catastrophe.  But  it  was  also  considered,  that  the  Con- 
vention was  an  assembly  of  men  of  rank,  of  fortune,  and 
of  talent.  The  Convention,  therefore,  possessed  an  im- 
portance and  a  consistence  that  seemed  to  render  some 
momentous  consequence  absolutely  inevitable  ;  the  crisis 
did  arrive,  but  it  was  unfortunate  ;  Ireland  tottered,  re- 
trograded and  has  fallen. 

The  firing  of  twenty-one  cannon  announced  the  first 
movement  of  the  delegates  from  the  Royal  Exchange  to 
the  Rotunda,  a  troop  of  the  Rathdown  cavalry,  commanded 
by  Colonel  Edwards,  of  Old  Court,  County  of  Y/icklow, 
commenced  the  procession ;  the  Liberty  Brigade  of  artil- 
lery,* commanded  by  Napper  Tandy,  with  a  band,  suc- 
ceeded. A  company  of  the  Barristers'  grenadiers,  headed 
by  Colonel  Pedder,  with  a  national  standard  for  Ireland, 
borne  by  a  captain  of  grenadiers,  and  surrounded  by  a 
company  of  the  finest  men  of  the  regiment  came  after, 
their  muskets  slung,  and  bright  battle-axes  borne  on  their 
shoulders.  A  battalion  of  infantry,  with  a  band,  followed, 
and  then  the  delegates,  two  and  two,  with  side-arms,  car- 
rying banners  with  motto  and  in  their  respective  uniforms, 
broad  green  ribbands  were  worn  across  their  shoulders. 
Another  band  followed  playing  the  special  air  alluded  to. 
The  chaplains  of  the  different  regiments  in  their  cassocks, 

*  Some  of  the  musicians  of  Dublin  in  1780,  had  been  employed  to 
compose  a  march  for  the  general  adoption  of  the  Volunteer  corps  through- 
out the  kingdom,  that  all  might  be  accustomed  to  march  to  the  same  ail 
at  their  reviews,  &c.  They  composed  a  simple-noted  march,  now  obso- 
lete, but  of  which  the  author  retained  a  copy,  still  interesting,  as  connect 
•d  with  a  recollection  of  the  times,  and  of  that  unparalleled  Institution. 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  28ft 

marched  each  with  his  respective  corps,  giving  solemnity 
to  the  procession,  and  as  if  invoking  the  blessing  of  Hea- 
ven on  their  efforts,  which  had  a  wonderful  effect  on  the 
lurronnding  multitude.  Several  standards  and  colours 
were  borne  by  the  different  corps  of  horse  and  foot,  and 
mother  brigade  of  artillery,  commanded  by  Counsellor 
Calbeck,  with  labels  on  the  cannons' mouths,*  was  escort- 
ed by  the  Barristers'  corps  in  scarlet  and  gold  (the  full 
dress  uniform  of  the  King's  Guards;)  the  motto  on  their 
buttons  being  "  Vox  populi  suprema  lex  est" 

The  procession  in  itself  was  interesting,  but  the  sur 
rounding  scene  was  still  more  affecting.  Their  line  of 
march,  from  the  Exchange  to  the  Rotunda,  was  through 
the  most  spacious  streets  and  quays  of  the  city,  open  on 
both  sides  to  the  river,  and  capable  of  containing  a  vastly 
larger  assemblage  of  people  than  any  part  of  the  metro- 
polis of  England.  An  immense  body  of  spectators, 
crowding  every  window  and  house-top,  would  be  but  an 
ordinary  occurrence,  and  might  be  seen  and  described 
without  novelty  or  interest,  but,  on  this  occasion,  every 
countenance  spoke  zeal,  every  eye  expressed  solicitude, 
and  every  action  proclaimed  triumph,  green  ribands  and 
naudkerchiefs  were  waved  from  every  window,  by  the 
enthusiasm  of  its  fair  occupants  ;  crowds  seemed  to  move 
on  the  house-tops,  ribands  were  flung  upon  the  delegates 
as  they  passed ;  yet  it  was  not  a  loud  or  boisterous,  but  a 
firm  enthusiasm.  It  was  not  the  effervescence  of  a  heated 
crowd,  it  was  not  the  fiery  ebullition  of  a  glowing  people, 
it  was  not  sedition,  it  was  liberty  that  inspired  them,  the 
heart  bounded  though  the  tongue  was  motionless,  those 
who  did  not  see,  or  who  do  not  recollect  that  splendid  day, 
must  have  the  mortification  of  reflecting  that  (under  all  its 
circumstances)  no  man  did  before,  and  no  man  ever  will 
'-  behold  its  like  again." 

V.  The  entrance  of  the  delegates  into  the  Rotunda  was 
more  than  interesting,  it  was  awful.  Each  doffed  his 
helmet  or  his  hat,  as  if  he  felt  the  influence  of  that  sacred 
place  where  he  was  about  to  sacrifice  at  the  Shrine  of 
Freedom.  Every  man  knew  he  was,  in  some  respect, 
overstepping  the  boundaries  of  the  Constitution,  but  he 

*  .Their  motto  was,  "  Oh  Lord,  open  thou  our  lips,  and  jut  mouthf 
chall  sound  fortli  thy  praise  !" 


RISE    AND    FALL 

considered  that  his  trespass  was  for  the  purpose  onl  y  of 
adding  security  to  that  Constitution  which  he  seemed  to 
transgress. 

Such  a  state  of  things  never  existed  in  any  other 
country,  consistent  with  perfect  tranquillity.  Ireland, 
however,  proved  on  that  occasion  her  superior  loyalty, 
and  gave  the  retort  courteous  to  all  her  calumniators.  It 
was  a  matter  of  fact  that  the  independence  of  Ireland  had 
been  achieved,  that  it  had  been  proclaimed  in  Ireland  and 
in  England,  that  it  had  been  solemnly  ratified  and  con- 
firmed for  ever  by  his  Majesty  from  his  throne,  as  monarch 
of  both  countries.  That  compact  was  therefore  firm, 
because  it  was  federal  and  final,  and  the  delegates  sought 
what  their  own  Parliament  alone  was  competent  to  discuss, 
and  over  which  England  had  no  control.  A  partial  reform 
of  the  representation  was  a  measure  which  the  British 
Minister  himself  had  the  duplicity  of  proposing  in  Eng- 
land, yet  of  undermining  in  the  sister  country,  even  in  the 
face  of  his  own  renunciation  of  ali  innovation  and  acknow- 
ledgment of  the  former  usurpation. 

VI.  These  would  at  any  other  time,  have  been  subjects 
for  deliberate  consideration,  but  it  was  too  late  to  reflect, 
the  die  was  thrown,  and,  as  if  every  thing  conspired  to 
increase  the  peculiarity  of  the  scene,  even  the  site  of  the 
Rotunda,  where  the  Convention  assembled,  exactly  termi- 
nated the  street  and  fronted  the  river,  on  the  other  side  of 
which,  in  a  direct  line,  was  seen  the  magnificent  dome  of 
the  Commons  House  of  Parliament,  were  300  members, 
returned  as  representatives  of  the  Irish  people,  according 
to  the  practice  of  the  Constitution,  were  also  delibei  ating. 

Those  localities  excited,  in  every  rational  mind,  some- 
thing like  a  dread  of  possible  collision,  it  was  also  a  grave 
and  curious  consideration,  that  the  avoWed  object  of  the 
Volunteer  delegation  was,  in  fact  to  degrade  the  character 
of  the  Parliamentary  delegates,  and,  under  the  name  of 
reform,  convict  them  of  corruption. 

It  was  impossible  not  to  perceive,  that  both  were  placed 
In  a  situation,  which  must  necessarily  terminate  in  the 
humiliation  of  one  of  them. 

It  was  also  remarkable  that  the  Volunteers,  who  had 
thus  sent  their  delegates  to  reform  the  Commons  House 
*f  Parliament,  had  been  themselves  solemnly  thanked  the 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  287 

preceding  session,  for  their  support  to  the  Constitution,  by 
the  very  same  House  of  Commons  which  they  now  deter- 
mined to  reorganize  and  reform. 

It  is  impossible  not  to  contrast  this  national  convention 
of  Ireland  with  the  democratic  assemblies  which,  in  later 
days  overwhelmed  so  many  thrones  and  countries.  With 
what  pride  must  an  Irishman  call  to  his  recollection  the 
concentration  of  rank  and  fortune,  and  patriotism  and 
loyalty,  which  composed  that  convention  of  the  Irish 
people  !  With  what  pride  must  the  few  survivors  re- 
member the  300  Irish  nobles  and  gentlemen,  assembling 
peaceably  and  loyally  to  demand  a  reform,  an  object  of 
all  others  the  nearest  to  their  hearts,  and  the  most  ne- 
cessary to  their  independence ! 

Yet  the  recollection  of  that  assembly  must  also  cast  a 
dark  shade  over  the  History  of  Ireland,  by  transferring  a 
reflection  on  its  proud  birth  to  its  humble  termination. 

A  delineation  of  those  scenes  may  appear,  to  modern 
readers,  an  exaggerated  episode.  That  generation  which 
beheld,  or  acted  in  those  days,  is  drawing  fast  to  a  close  ; 
and  whilst  a  few  contemporaries  exist,  it  would  be  unpar- 
donable to  leave  the  scenes  altogether  to  future  historians, 
who  could  convey  but  an  imperfect  recital  of  actions  they 
had  never  seen,  and  frigid  ideas  of  feelings  they  had  never 
experienced.  The  results  of  that  extraordinary  measure 
may  enable  posterity  to  do  some  justice  to  calumniated 
Ireland,  where  loyalty  appears  to  have  wonderfully  re- 
tained its  influence  over  a  powerful,  proud,  and  patriotic 
assembly,  and  over  an  armed  and  irresistible  population, 
under  circumstances  the  most  dangerous  and  irritating 
that  had  ever  terminated  with  tranquillity  in  any  nation. 

The  Artillery  had  scarcely  announced  the  entry  of  the 
delegates  into  the  Rotunda,  when  that  silent  respect  which 
had  pervaded  the  entire  population,  during  the  procession, 
yielded  to  more  lively  feelings  ;  no  longer  could  the  peo- 
ple restrain  their  joy.  At  first,  a  low  murmur  seemed  to 
proceed  from  different  quarters,  which,  soon  increasing  in 
its  fervour,  at  length  burst  into  a  universal  cheer  of  tri- 
umph, like  distant  thunder,  gradually  rolling  on,  till  one 
great  and  continued  peal  burst  upon  the  senses  ;  the  loud 
and  incessant  cheering  of  the  people  soon  reverberated 
from  street  to  street,  contributing  the  whole  powers  of 


RISE    AND   PALL 

acclamation  to  glorify  an  assembly  which  they  vainly  col* 
ceived  must  be  omnipotent,  it  was  an  acclamation,  *ong, 
sincere,  and  unanimous,  and  occasionally  died  away, 
only  to  be  renewed  with  redoubled  energy.  The  vivid 
interest  excited  by  this  extraordinary  and  affecting  scene 
can  never  be  conceived,  save  by  those  who  were  present, 
and  participated  in  its  feelings,  nor  can  time  or  age  ob- 
literate it  from  the  memory. 

It  is  not  unworthy  of  remark,  that  a  wonderful  pro- 
portion of  female  voices  was  distinguishable  amidst  these 
plaudits.  A  general  illumination  took  place  throughout 
the  city,  bands  of  music  were  heard  every  where,  and 
never  did  a  day  and  night  of  rejoicing  so  truly  express 
the  unsophisticated  gratification  of  an  entire  population. 
The  Government  was  astounded,  the  Privy  Council  had 
sat,  but  were  far  from  unanimous,  and  had  separated 
without  decision.  The  old  courtiers  called  the  scene 
frantic,  but  it  was  not  the  frenzy  of  a  mob,  it  was  the 
triumph  of  a  nation,  incomprehensible  to  the  vulgar 
meetings  of  another  country. 

The  scene  within  was  still  more  novel  and  impressive. 
The  varied  uniforms  of  the  delegates  had  a  very  singular 
appearance ;  sent  from  different  regiments,  no  two  of 
them  were  dressed  or  armed  alike ;  cavalry,  infantry,  gre- 
nadiers, artillery,  generals,  colonels,  Serjeants,  privates  ;  in 
fine,  all  possible  varieties  of  military  dress  and  rank  were 
collected  in  one  general  body,  destined  to  act  solely  in  a 
civil  capacity. 

The  cheers,  the  cannon,  the  music,  the  musketry,  com 
bined  to  prevent  any  procedure  that  day,  save  that  of  the 
members  giving  in  their  delegations,  and  nomina  ting  somt 
officers  to  act  during  the  session. 


THE    IRISH    NATION. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

The  Bishop  of  Deny  takes  his  seat  at  the  Conventi^;, — His  splendour— 
And  pageantry — Procession — Popularity — Extraordinary  Visit  to  the 
House  of  Lords — A  Guard  of  Honour  mounted  at  his  house — Entire- 
ly devoted  to  the  Irish  people — His  great  qualities  and  acquirements — 
Opposes  Charlemont  and  Grattan — First  treacherous  Scheme  of  the 
British  Government  again  to  enslave  Ireland — The  spirit  of  the  Irish 
Parliament  declines — Reasons  for  Reform  in  Parliament — Absolutely 
essential  to  her  prosperity — Further  traits  of  Lord  Charlemont's  Char- 
acter—His inefficiency — His  views — Opposes  the  Bishop  of  Derry's 
Election  for  the  Presidency  of  the  National  Convention — Many  Mem- 
bers of  Parliament  attend  the  Convention  also  -Earl  Charlemont's 
dilemma — Proceedings  of  the  Convention — The  Bishop  and  Mr. 
Flood  acquired  the  ascendency — The  Parliament  and  Convention — 
Desperate  step  of  Government — Fitzgibbon's  Philippic — Most  violent 
Debates — Bill  rejected — Extraordinary  coincidence  of  facts — Mr.  Con- 
nolly's motion — Feeble  and  insidious  resolution  of  Lord  Charlemont — ■ 
fatal  adjournment — Called  a  meeting  of  his  partisans — Breaks  his 
ti  ust — Inexcusable  conduct — False  statement — Virtually  dissolves  the 
Convention  before  the  full  meeting — Lord  Charlemont  justly  reproba- 
ted— Volunteers  beat  to  arms — Lord  Charlemont's  intolerance — Op- 
jwsed  by  the  Bishop  of  Deny. 

(.  Previous  to  the  meeting  of  the  delegates,  the  Bishop 
of  Deny  had  determined  to  convince  the  Irish  people, 
that  he  was  no  lukewarm  professor  of  adherence  to  their 
interest ;  his  character,  already  given,  is  confirmed  by 
every  act  of  his  life  when  in  Ireland.  He  took  his  seat 
amongst  the  Irish  delegates,  at  the  Rotunda,  with  the 
greatest  splendour ;  and,  to  prove  that  he  preferred  the 
claims  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  to  both  his  English  rank  as 
Earl  of  Bristol  and  his  Irish  rank  as  a  spiritual  noble,  he 
entered  Dublin  in  royal  state,  drew  up  his  equipage  at  the 
entrance  to  the  House  of  Lords,  as  if  he  halted  to  teach 
the  Peers  their  duty  to  their  country,  and  then  moved  for- 
ward to  take  his  seat  at  the  Rotunda,  as  an  Irish  Delegate 
in  the  National  Convention.  Such  a  circumstance  can  be 
scarcely  credited  in  England  ;  but  had  not  Lord  Charle- 
mont's temporizing  neutralized  his  spirit,  it  is  probable 

25 


B90  RISE    AND    FALL 

that  the  Convention  might  have  succeeded  in  its  object 
It  is  not,  therefore,  wonderful,  that  a  British  Peer,  an 
Englishman,  and  above  all,  a  Bishop,  taking  so  decided 
a  part  in  the  cause  of  Ireland,  should  gain  a  popularity 
that  few  before  him  ever  had  so  fully,  01  perhaps,  more 
justly,  experienced.  He  certainly  was  sincere ;  his  pro- 
ceedings on  this  occasion  were  extraordinary,  and  not 
unworthy  of  a  special  notice. 

The  Lords  had  taken  their  seats  in  the  House  of  Peers 
when  the  Bishop  of  Deny  began  his  procession  to  take 
his  seat  in  the  Convention.  He  had  several  carriages  in 
his  suite,  and  sat  in  an  open  landau,  drawn  by  six  beau- 
tiful horses,  caparisoned  with  purple  ribands.  He  was 
dressed  in  purple,  his  horses,  equipages,  and  servants 
being  in  the  most  splendid  trappings  and  liveries.  He 
had  brought  to  Dublin,  as  his  escort,  a  troop  of  light 
cavalry,  raised  by  his  unfortunate  and  guilty  nephew, 
George  Robert  Fitzgerald  ;  they  were  splendidly  dressed 
and  accoutred,  and  were  mounted  on  the  finest  chargers 
that  the  Bishop  or  their  Commander  could  procure.  A 
part  of  these  dragoons  led  the  procession,  another  closed 
it,  and  some  rode  on  each  side  of  his  Lordship's  carriage. 
Trumpets  announced  his  approach,  and  detachments 
from  several  Volunteer  corps  of  Dublin  joined  his  Lord- 
ship's calvacade.  He  never  ceased  making  dignified 
obeisances  to  the  multitude  :  his  salutations  were  enthu- 
siastically returned  on  every  side ;  "  Long  live  the  Bishop," 
echoed  from  every  window ;  yet  all  was  peace  and  har- 
mony, and  never  did  there  appear  so  extraordinary  a 
procession  within  the  realm  of  Ireland. 

This  calvacade  marched  slowly  through  the  different 
streets,  till  it  arrived  at  the  portico  of  the  house  of  Lords, 
which  adjoined  that  of  the  Commons.  A  short  halt  was 
then  made,  the  trumpets  sounded,  the  sudden  and  unex- 
pected clangor  of  which  echoed  throughout  the  long  cor- 
ridors. Both  Houses  had  just  finished  prayers,  and  were 
proceeding  to  business,  and,  totally  unconscious  of  the 
cause,  several  members  rushed  to  the  entrance.  The 
Bishop  saluted  all  with  royal  dignity,  the  Volunteers 
presented  arms,  and  the  bands  played  the  Valunteer's 
march.  Of  a  sudden  another  clangor  of  trumpets  was 
heard ;   the  astonished  Lords  and  Commons,  unable  to 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  291 

divine  what  was  to  ensue,  or  the  reason  of  the  extra* 
ordinary  appearance  of  the  Bishop,  retired  to  their  re- 
spective chambers,  and  with  great  solicitude  awaited  th« 
result. 

The  Bishop,  however,  had  done  what  he  intended ;  he 
had  astonished  both  Houses,  and  had  proved  to  them  his 
principles  and  his  determination  ;  amidst  the  shouts  and 
rheers  of  thousands,  he  proceeded  to  the  Rotunda,  where, 
in  point  of  dignity  and  importance,  he  certainly  appeared 
to  surpass  the  whole  of  his  brother  delegates.  He  enter- 
ed the  chamber  in  the  greatest  form,  presented  his  cre- 
dentials, took  his  seat,  conversed  a  few  moments  with  all 
the  ceremony  of  a  temporal  prince,  and  then,  with  the 
excess  of  that  dignified  courtesy  of  which  he  was  a  perfect 
master,  he  retired  as  he  had  entered,  and  drove  away  in 
the  same  majestic  style,  and  amidst  reiterated  applauses, 
to  his  house,  where  the  Volunteers  had  previously  mount- 
ed a  guard  of  honour.  He  entertained  a  great  number  of 
persons  of  rank  at  a  magnificent  dinner,  and  the  ensuing 
day  began  his  course  amongst  the  Delegates,  as  an  ordi- 
nary man  of  business. 

The  personal  appearance  of  the  Bishop  was  extremely 
prepossessing  ;  rather  under  the  middle  size,  he  was  pe- 
culiarly well  made,  his  countenance  fair,  handsome,  and 
intelligent,  but  rather  expressive  of  a  rapidity  of  thought 
than  of  the  deliberation  of  judgment ;  his  hair,  receding 
from  his  forehead,  gave  a  peculiar  trait  of  respectability 
to  his  appearance. 

His  manner  appeared  zealous  and  earnest,  and  rather 
more  quick  than  is  consistent  with  perfect  dignity ;  but 
he  seemed  to  be  particularly  well  bred  and  courteous  ; 
and  altogether,  he  could  not  be  viewed  without  an  im- 
pression that  he  was  a  person  of  talent  and  of  eminence. 

He  appeared  always  dressed  with  peculiar  care  and 
tteatness  ;  in  general,  entirely  in  purple,  and  he  wore 
diamond  knee  and  shoe  buckles.  But  what  I  most  ob- 
served in  his  dress  was,  that  he  wore  white  gloves,  with 
gold  fringe  round  the  wrists,  and  large  gold  tassels  hang- 
ing from  them. 

The  Author  was  then  too  young,  and  too  unimponant, 
to  have  the  honour  of  any  personal  acquaintance  with 
that   distinguished    prelate  ;    but  the  singularity   of   his 


193  RISE    AND    FALL 

habits,  his  patriotic  conduct,  popular  character,  and  im- 
pressive appearance,  excited  a  satisfaction  in  beholding 
him,  and  impressed  him  strongly  on  my  recollection. 

The  Bishop,  in  devoting  himself  to  the  service  of  the 
Irish  people,  could  have  no  personal  object  but  popularity 
He  could  be  greater  in  title ;  he  was  rich,  and  in  health, 
vigour,  and  spirits  ;  his  learning  was  rare,  his  talents  very 
considerable — in  all  respects  he  was  an  able  man.  From 
the  moment  he  became  an  Irish  Bishop  he  adopted  Ire- 
land, built  an  immense  palace  in  a  remote  and  singular 
situation,  and  did  numerous  acts  which  nobody  could  ac- 
count for.  He  had  many  of  those  qualities  in  an  eminent 
degree,  which  our  more  ancient  histories  have  attributed 
to  the  proudest  churchmen ;  but  they  were  in  him  so 
blended  with  liberality,  so  tempered  by  enlightened  prin- 
ciples, that  they  excited  a  very  different  mode  of  conduct 
from  his  episcopal  predecessors.  However,  his  ambition 
for  popularity  obviously  knew  no  bounds,  and  his  efforts 
to  gain  that  popularity  found  no  limits.  His  great  failing 
was  a  portion  of  natural  versatility,  which  frequently 
enfeebled  the  confidence  of  his  adherents.  It  was  sup- 
posed that  the  gentle,  lambient  tiame  of  Charlemont, 
would  soon  be  quenched  in  the  rolling,  rapid  torrent  of 
the  Bishop's  popularity,  and  that  the  epigrammatic  elo- 
quence of  Grattan,  cramped  or  overpowered  by  the  influ- 
ence of  his  splendour,  would  probably  be  withdrawn  from 
Jhe  scene  of  action.  The  Bishop  soon  adopted  his  course ; 
he  paid  his  whole  attention  to  Mr.  Flood.  In  this  he  was 
right.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say,  that  Mr.  Flood  was,  at 
least,  the  best  educated  and  deepest  statesman,  and  the 
most  able  partisan,  in  the  Irish  Senate. 

II.  Whilst  these  extraordinary  and  brilliant  scenes  were 

Sroceeding  in  Ireland,  the  embarrassment  of  the  British 
linisters  must  necessarily  be  on  the  increase,  if  possible. 
They  well  knew,  that  if  the  Convention  succeeded  in  re- 
forming the  Commons  House  of  Parliament,  the  British 
Government  would  lose  the  use  of  the  only  instrument 
through  which  they  ever  could  hope  to  regain  their  ascen- 
dency ;  and  with  this  view,  and  at  this  critical  period, 
the  plot  was  suggested  and  the  conspiracy  formed,  to  re« 
place  Ireland  within  the  trammels  of  the  sister  country 
whenever  a  feasible  opportunity  should  oiler.     The  so- 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  293 

guence  of  Irish  events  leaves  no  donbt  of  the  truth  of  this 
observation. 

These  collisions  were,  to  England  a  golden  opportu- 
nity: plans  against  the  Volunteer  Associations  were 
deeply  laid,  and  with  considerable  prospect  of  eventually 
succeeding,  first  by  working  upon  the  courtly  moderation 
and  courteous  feebleness  of  the  short-sighted  Charlemont, 
and  credulity  of  Grattan,  to  dismiss  the  Convention,  and 
thereby  divide  and  dispirit  the  Volunteers.  And  next, 
by  corrupting  Parliament  and  seducing  the  Irish  gentle- 
men, under  pretence  of  upholding  the  British  Constitu- 
tion, to  recapture  the  Irish  independence.  Whoever 
reads  the  political  history  of  those  realms  from  1782  to 
1800,  cannot  doubt  that  this  object,  from  that  period  to 
the  completion  of  the  legislative  Union,  was  never  lost 
sight  of. 

The  British  Minister  had  also  reasons  nearer  home  for 
determining  to  undermine  the  reforming  spirit  of  the  Irish 
Volunteers.  He  knew  that  if  a  reform  of  Parliament 
were  effected  in  Ireland,  though  the  same  reasons  did  not 
exist,  yet  the  same  measure  could  not  be  long  withheld 
from  the  English  nation ;  and  as  the  Parliament  of  Eng- 
land was  at  that  era  supposed  to  be  ruled  absolutely  by 
the  influence  of  the  Crown,  the  control  of  the  Minister 
would  receive  a  vital  blow,  which  it  never  could  recover. 

The  commercial  system  of  England,  also,  whilst  with- 
out external  rivalship,  had  no  necessity  for  a  special  pro- 
tection. But  now  she  had  a  rival  in  the  free  trade  of 
Ireland,  a  subject  which  soon  after  came  under  full  dis- 
cussion. The  jealousy  of  England  was  proved  by  her 
commercial  propositions,  and  the  Irish  Parliament  had  yet 
sufficient  honesty  to  resist  that  inroad. 

But  as  a  body  that  had  laboured  long  and  much,  a 
lassitude  and  relaxation  were  obviously  commencing  in 
the  Irish  Senate,  how  long  that  spirit,  which  had  acquired 
their  rights,  might  retain  its  vigour  to  protect  them, 
depended  on  the  purity  of  the  representatives,  and  this 
was  the  true  reason  for  considering  a  reform  imperative 
in  Ireland. 

Whilst,  therefore,  the  subject  of  Reform  is  under  dis- 
cussion, it  may  be  proper  to  see  how  far  the  then  existing 
•tate  of  Ireland  substantially  required  that  measure,  oi 

25* 


294  RISE    AND    FALL 

warranted  that  conclusion.  She  was  to  commence  as  a 
trading  country,  and  her  situation  on  the  map  of  the  world 
seemed  to  combine  many  defects  and  many  advantages. 
She  appears  partially  secluded  from  that  general  inter- 
course which  other  states  of  Europe  enjoy  from  their 
localities.  England,  on  the  east,  intervenes  between  her 
and  the  British  Channel  and  German  Ocean  ;  Scotland 
intercepts  the  Northern  Seas ;  and  though  the  most 
western  point  of  Europe,  and  of  course  well  situated  for 
the  western  commerce,  the  enterprise  and  great  capital, 
or  jealousy,  of  England,  could  have  excluded  her  at 
pleasure,  if  unprotected  by  her  own  Parliament,  from  any- 
proportional  participation  in  the  colonial  trade.*  On  a 
view  of  the  whole,  her  position  might  have  entitled  her  tc 
have  become  a  considerable  emporium,  but  jealousy  is 
natural  to  commercial  nations,  and  Ireland  would  probably 
have  possessed  the  same  lust  for  monopoly,  had  she  been 
circumstanced  as  Great  Britain.  But  the  non-importation 
resolutions  of  Ireland  had  alarmed  Great  Britain,  and 
proved  to  her  to  what  a  zeal  of  retaliation  the  Irish  people 
might  be  urged  by  any  future  measures  of  injustice. 

The  situation  of  Ireland  places  her  comparatively  out 
of  the  pale  of  busy  Europe,  by  the  absence  of  that 
political  interest  which  the  Powers  of  Europe  take  in  the 
commerce  of  other  and  inferior  countries.  This  was  a 
deprivation  which  nothing  could  ever  remedy  or  counter- 
act, but  a  local  legislature,  constantly  resident,  and  con- 
stantly alive  to  the  foreign  and  domestic  interests  of  their 
country.! 

These  were  some  of  the  causes  which  rendered  a  pure 
ar.d  independent  Parliament  more  necessary  to  Ireland 
than  to  her  sister  country.     Ireland  never  had  been  a 

*  It  could  not  be  very  gratifying  to  the  Irish  traders  or  people,  to  see 
the  immense  colonial  and  general  trade  of  Liverpool  necessarily  pass  by 
the  ports  of  Waterford  and  Dublin.  The  author  has  seen  a  fleet  of  sev- 
enty West  Indiamen  sail  proudly  down  the  Irish  Channel  to  the  mer- 
chants at  Liverpool,  and  one  solitary  vessel  separate  from  the  fleet,  an^ 
steer  into  the  port  of  Dublin,  with  sugar  and  molasses,  for  home  con- 
gumption. 

t  See  ante  Sir  Lucius  O'Brien's  Speech  on  the  conduct  of  Portugal. 
He  proposed  merely  a  declaration  of  war  by  Ireland  against  her,  and  in 
the  end  Portugal  was  obliged  to  redress  her,  notwithstanding  the  dupli- 
city  of  the  British  minisfei  and  Mr.  Eden. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  295 

nation  oi  extensive  commerce,  yet  even  the  narrow 
channels  of  her  trade  were  ever  contracted  by  the 
jealousies  and  monopoly  of  England  ;  and  this  in  public 
opinion,  rendered  a  pure  parliament  indispensable,  as  the 
only  ample  security  against  such  interference.* 

To  constitute  an  Irish  Parliament,  therefore,  as  much 
as  possible  free  from  every  tinge  of  English  commercial 
or  political  influence,  was  plausibly  considered  essential 
to  the  security  of  the  former  country.  The  necessity,  in 
point  of  fact,  can  only  be  judged  of  by  this  view  of  the 
external  state  of  Ireland  at  the  crisis,  when  a  military 
convention  to  discuss  Reform  surprised  every  nation  of 
Europe,  that  would  condescend  or  take  the  trouble  to 
think  about  an  island  so  secluded. 

III.  The  public  characters  of  the  Bishop  of  Deny  and 
his  more  moderate  rival,  were  so  extremely  dissimilar, 
and  their  composition  so  totally  repugnant,  that  any 
amalgamation  of  sentiment  was  utterly  impossible.  A 
cautious  attachment  to  regularity  and  order,  a  sincere  love 
for  the  people,  a  polished,  courtly  respect  for  the  aristo 
cracy,  with  a  degree  of  popular  ambition  and  a  proportion 
of  individual  vanity,  were  the  governing  principles  of 
Lord  Charlemont  during  the  whole  of  his  political 
conduct.  But,  unfortunntely,  these  were  accompanied  by 
a  strong  taint  of  that  religious  intolerance  which  has  since 
proved  the  interruption  of  Irish  tranquillity. 

No  man  in  Ireland  could  do  the  honours  of  a  review 
better ;  and  though  his  personal  courage  was  undoubted, 
no  man  in  Ireland  was  likely  to  do  the  duties  of  a  battle 
worse  than  Lord  Charlemont.  He  guessed  the  extent  of 
his  own  powers,  and  sedulously  avoided  any  situation  to 
which  they  might  prove  inadequate.  If  the  people  had 
not  respected  his  virtues,  they  would  not  have  submitted 
to  his  weakness  ;  and  if  he  had  not  loved  the  people,  he 
would  not  have  sacrificed  his  tranquillity  to  command 
them.     He  was  an  excellent  nurse,  tender  of  the  consti- 

*  Vidr  King  William's  reply  to  the  British  Parliament;  and  in  1484 
the  great  manufacturing  towns  of  England  and  Scotland  fully  displayed 
the  si  me  attachment  to  their  monopolies,  even  to  the  ruin  oi  Irish  com. 
merce.  They  have  become  better  informed  since  that  period*  and  are,  ol 
course  more  liberal. 


296  RISE    AND    FALL 

tution,  but  dreading  every  effective  remedy  prescribed  fot 
its  disorders. 

Lord  Charlemont  saw  clearly  that  the  Presidency  of 
the  National  Convention  was  of  vital  consequence  to  the 
country,  and  the  master-key  of  his  own  importance.  He 
had  his  little  as  well  as  his  great  feelings,  and  both  were 
set  into  action  by  this  dilemma.  He  knew  full  well  that 
if  the  bold  and  enterprising  Prelate  were  at  the  head  of 
that  Convention,  he  would  lose  all  weight  with  the 
Government,  and  all  influence  with  the  people.  The 
measure  was  altogether  too  strong  for  the  character  of 
Lord  Charlemont,"he  knew  he  should  be  incapable  of 
governing  that  body,  if  it  once  got  into  any  leading-strings 
but  his  own,  and  it  was  obvious  that  if  his  Lordship  should 
get  one  step  beyond  his  depth,  he  never  could  regain  his 
position.  His  friends,  therefore,  anticipated  every  means 
to  ensure  his  nomination  to  the  Presidency,  and  the  Bishop 
of  Deny,  before  he  was  aware  that  there  would  be  any 
efFecrual  opposition  to  himself,  found  Lord  Charlemont 
actually  placed  in  that  situation,  where  he  might  restrain, 
if  not  counteract  the  ultra  energies  of  the  reforming  party. 
This  was  the  very  step  the  Government  desired ;  Earl 
Charlemont  might  be  managed,  but  the  Bishop  of  Derry 
would  have  been  intractable.  Lord  Charlemont  involun- 
tarily became  the  tool  of  Government,  whilst  he  fancied 
he  was  labouring  in  the  service  of  the  people.  From  this 
moment  the  neutralizing  system  by  which  its  President 
wished  to  conduct  that  assembly  became  obvious.  Every 
body  might  foresee  that  not  only  the  Convention,  but  per- 
haps the  Volunteer  associations  were  likely  to  droop. 

Many  sensible  men  had  apprehended  that  the  Bishop's 
politics  might  be  too  strong ;  the  very  act  of  his  attaching 
himself  to  Ireland  proved  at  once  their  vigour  and 
eccentricity;  and  hence  the  Presidency  of  the  Convention, 
in  every  point  of  view,  became  a  measure  of  extreme 
importance. 

IV.  A  few  of  the  members  of  the  House  of  Commons 
had  declined  their  election  to  the  Convention,*  but  some 
of  the  ablest  and  most  respectable  members  performed 

*  The  state  of  Parliament  may  be  imagined  from  Mr.  George  Moh- 
neux's  apologising  to  the  House  of  Commons  for  being  unable  to  bring 
forward  a  motion  of  which  he  had  given  notice — "  As  the  cloae  atten- 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  29? 

their  duties  alternately  in  both  assemblies.  The  Lord 
Lieutenant  and  his  Privy  Council  at  the  same  time  held 
their  sittings  at  the  Castle,  exactly  midway  between  the 
two  Parliaments,  they  received  alternate  reports  from 
each,  and  undecided  whether  the  strong  or  the  passive 
system  were  least,  or  rather  most,  fraught  with  danger, 
they  at  length  wisely  adopted  their  accustomed  course, 
and  determined  to  take  advantage  of  the  chances  of 
division,  and  of  the  moderation,  ductility,  and  pride  of 
Lord  Charlemont. 

It  was  artfully  insinuated  to  Lord  Charlemont,  by  the 
friends  of  Government,  that  the  peace  of  the  country  was 
considered  to  be  in  his  hands,  that  he  had  accepted  a 
situation  of  the  most  responsible  nature,  and  that  if  he 
did  not  possess  sufficient  influence  to  curb  the  Convention, 
he  ought  at  once  to  resign  the  trust,  and  thereby  give  the 
Parliament  a  ground  of  requiring  the  immediate  dissolu- 
tion of  its  unconstitutional  rival. 

Lord  Charlemont  found  himself  in  a  situation  of  great 
embarrassment.  If  he  held  the  Presidency,  he  was 
responsible  for  its  proceedings,  if  he  resigned  it,  he  would 
still  be  responsible  for  having  countenanced  the  organi- 
zation of  the  assembly,  the  Bishop  would  succeed  him  in 
his  chair — and  he  would  still  be  considered  the  inceptive 
promoter  of  whatever  might  be  adopted  by  his  successor. 
Lord  Charlemont's  pride  resisted  his  resignation.  He  was 
too  high  to  be  commanded,  he  was  too  feeble  to  control, 
and  he  found  himself  in  a  state  of  great  perplexity.  After 
much  deliberation,  he  adopted  the  suggestions  of  the 
courtiers,  and  was  led  blindfold  to  that  deceptious  course, 
which  might  answer  his  tranquil  objects  for  the  moment, 
but  was  beneath  his  character,  and  which  must  eventually 
have  extinguished  all  the  popular  influence  of  the  Volun- 
teers, and  have  destroyed  that  of  the -country.  In  fine  he 
lost  himself;  he  sacrificed  his  country,  and  determined  on 
a   lme  of  proceeding  entirely  unworthy  of  his  former 

tion  he  had  been  obliged  to  give  to  the  National  Convention,  did  not 
leave  him  time  to  prepare  himself  on  Parliamentary  subjects." 

The  members  trying  the  petition  on  the  Cork  election,  adjourned  the 
trial,  though  the  expense  was  daily  very  great,  as  there  were  some  of 
the  Committee  who  were  obliged  to  attend  their  duty  in  the  NationW 
Convention. 


898  RISE    AND    FALL 

conduct ;  if  he  could  not  govern,  he  resolved  to  temporize^ 
divide,  neutralize,  and  dissolve  the  assembly. 

This  fatal  system  was  eventually  successful,  and  his 
Lordship  effected  the  dissolution  of  that  body  whose  con- 
fidence had  raised  him  to  so  glorious  an  eminence,  by 
which  the  British  Government  now  foresaw  the  possi- 
bility of  recapturing  Irish  independence.  Lord  Charle- 
mont  had  been  seized  with  a  nervous  dread  of  that  very 
institution  he  had  originally  been  so  active  in  creating  ; 
and  entirely,  though  unconsciously,  surrendered  himself 
to  the  darling  objects  of  a  deep  and  treacherous  adminis- 
tration. 

And  here  let  it  be  remarked,  that  the  independence  of 
[reland,  which  certainly  was  first  achieved  by  the  exer- 
tions of  the  Whigs,  was  now  left  unguarded,  and  after- 
wards destroyed  by  the  corrupt  tergiversation  of  many 
members  of  that  same  party.  The  inconsistent  conduct 
of  some  of  the  Whigs,  and  their  Place  Bill  in  1794,*  were 
the  proximate  means  through  which  the  Union  was  ulti 
mately  effected. 

V.  The  proceedings  of  the  Convention  were  carried  on 
for  some  time  with  the  utmost  regularity.  The  rules  and 
orders,  and  customs  of  Parliament  were  adopted,  and  the 
meetings  were  held  and  continued  without  any  material 
interruption.  But  when  such  an  assembly  had  been  de- 
legated for  the  purpose  of  requiring  the  Parliament  to 
purify  itself,  and  remodel  its  constitution,  it  could  not  be 
expected  that  every  member  could  possess  similar  views 
or  similar  feelings,  or  perhaps  observe  the  most  uninter- 
rupted order  and  discipline  in  discussions.  But  the 
decorum  and  regularity  of  the  Convention  may  be  best 
exemplified  by  observing  that  there  was  not  any  meeting 
or  discussion  of  the  National  Convention  of  Ireland,  from 
its  first  to  its  last  sitting,  more  confused  or  boisterous 
than,  what  has  very  frequently  been  witnessed  in  the 
Commons  House  of  the  Imperial  Parliament. 

*  The  Place  Bill,  perseveringly  forced  by  the  Whigs  upon  the  Gov- 
ernment by  admitting  the  vacating  of  seats  by  nominal  officers  ( Escheat- 
orship  of  Munster),  enabled  Lord  Castlereagh  to  pack  the  Parliament  in 
1800,  with  a  degree  of  undisguised  effrontery  never  before  attempted  by 
any  Minister.  See  hereafter,  Mr.  Crow's  Letter  to  Lord  Belvideie,  ia 
which  the  high  crimes  and  misdemeanc  irsof  Lord  Castlereagh  are  *p 
vent  beyond  the  power  of  refutal. 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  29S 

A  strong  opposition  soon  arose  to  the  imbecile  system 
of  Lord  Charlemont.  Superior  public  characters  at  length 
assumed  their  stations,  and  effectively  overwhelmed  that 
childish  affectation  of  delicacy,  so  utterly  incompatible 
with  the  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  the  spirit  of  the 
patriots.  Yet  unfortunately  Lord  Charlemont  was  elected, 
and  took  the  chair  as  President. 

The  Bishop,  disappointed  of  the  chair,  lost  no  time  in 
rendering  it  a  seat  of  thorns.  He  took  to  his  council,  the 
man  of  all  others  best  adapted  to  give  weight  and  dignity 
to  the  measure  of  Parliamentary  reform.  Lord  Charle- 
mont supported  reform  most  sincerely.  Mr.  Grattan  was 
also  a  sincere  and  honest  friend  to  a  purification  of  Par- 
liament :  but  his  favourite  scheme,  as  he  said,  to  begin 
with,  was  an  internal  reform.  He  partially  accomplished 
that  object  by  the  Place  Bill,  whilst,  by  one  of  its  clauses, 
he  most  certainly  lost  both  the  Parliament  and  the  Con- 
stitution.* 

VI.  The  Bishop  and  Mr.  Flood  soon  gained  a  full  as- 
cendency in  the  Convention,  and  many  men  of  the  very 
first  rank,  fortune,  and  influence,  took  part  in  its  deliber- 
ations. Numerous  plans  were  proposed,  and  reform,  of 
all  others  the  most  difficult  of  political  measures,  was 
sought  to  be  too  promptly  decided  in  a  heated  and  impa- 
tient assembly. 

By  the  imprudence  of  both  parties,  the  Convention  and 
the  Parliament  were  driven  into  a  direct  collision.  After 
much  deliberation,  a  plan  of  reform,  framed  by  Mr.  Flood 
and  approved  by  the  Convention,  was  directed  by  them 
to  be  presented  to  Parliament  forthwith,  and  the  sittings 
of  the  Convention  were  made  permanent  till  Parliament 
had  decided  the  question.  Mr.  Flood  obeyed  his  instruc- 
tions, and  moved  ior  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bill  to  reform 
the  Parliament. 

The  Government  felt  that  a  collision  of  the  two  assem- 
blies was  unavoidable.     The  crisis,  however,  afforded  no 

*  The  Author,  when  a  member  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  clearly  fore- 
saw the  use  that  any  minister  might  make  of  the  vacating  clavse  and 
strongly  opposed  that  clause  in  his  place,  though  conceded  by  Govern- 
ment The  title  of  a  Place  Bill  was  so  agreeable  to  the  Opposition,  that 
very  few  of  them  ever  gave  themselves  the  trouble  of  considering  thf 
d<itail%  of  it. 


300  RISK    A XI)    PALI 

opportunity  for  mature  consideration,  and  it  was  not  long 
before  the  danger  of  so  hasty  a  proceeding  was  fatally 
experienced.  Government  had  yielded  to  the  Volunteers 
when  it  could  not  resist  them  ;  but  it  was  not  probable 
that  the  Parliament  would  quietly  capitulate  to  the  Con- 
vention ;  whilst  the  triumph  of  the  Parliament  implied 
not  only  the  destruction  of  the  Convention  but  of  the 
Volunteers. 

The  measure  of  reform,  patriotic  and  noble,  blinded  the 
nation  to  every  consideration  but  its  attainment,  actual 
and  prompt ;  yet  so  many  persons  of  character,  fortune, 
and  influence,  were  in  both  assemblies,  that  a  discreet 
and  prudent  deliberation  might  possibly  have  devised 
means  of  averting  so  dangerous  a  crisis. 

The  Government  resolved  to  risk  a  direct  assault  upon 
the  Volunteers,  by  refusing  leave  to  bring  in  Mr.  Floodrs 
Bill,  because  it  had  originated  from  their  deliberations 
Strong  language  was  used,  but  with  some  precaution, 
even  by  Mr.  Yelverton,  who  had  been  a  zealous  Volun- 
teer, but  was  now  the  Attorney  General.  His  eloquence 
was  splendid  ;  but  the  bold,  restless,  arrogant  spirit  of 
Fitzgibbon,  ever  prone  to  offend,  to  irritate,  and  to  per- 
vert, in  a  speech  replete  with  the  most  unnecessary  in- 
vective, unwarrantable  fury  and  abuse,  assailed  the  Con- 
vention, the  Volunteers,  and  the  Bill,  with  every  epithet 
and  allusion  that  could  bring  the  Government  and  the 
Volunteers  into  a  state  of  direct  hostility.  Had  his  effort! 
been  crowned  with  success,  British  connection  would  pro- 
bably not  have  been  of  three  months  duration. 

The  House  felt  the  danger  of  his  conduct,  and  he  was 
not  supported  in  his  philippics.  Mr.  Curran  called  Mr. 
Fitzgibbon  a  maniac  and  an  incendiary ;  Mr.  D.  Daley- 
termed  Mr.  Flood  a  demagogue.  The  debate  became 
quite  unprecedented  in  point  of  violence  and  party  recri- 
mination, but  the  good  sense  of  some  members  endea- 
voured to  moderate  the  partisans.  The  Bill,  after  a 
dreadful  uproar,  was  rejected  by  158  to  49  ;*  138  of  the 
majority  were  placemen,  and  the  very  persons  on  whom 
the  reform  was  intended  to  operate.  It  is  very  re- 
markable, that  it  was  138  placemen  that  rejected  the 
Reform  Bill  in  1783,  and  that  it  was  the  same  number  of 

*  Ninety-three  members  were  absent. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  301 

placemen  who  carried  the  Union  Bill  in  1£00,  which,  if 
the  reform  had  succeeded,  never  could  have  been  passed. 
Upon  this  very  decision  ultimately  depended  the 
existence  of  Irish  independence.  The  Volunteers  were 
insulted,  their  Bill  was  rejected  without  a  hearing,  their 
intentions  were  calumniated,  even  their  name  was  repro- 
bated ;  their  services  were  forgotten,  and  that  very 
corruption  which  they  sought  to  reform  thus  had  its  full 
revenge. 

Mr.  Connolly — that  weak,  obstinate,  and  most  incon- 
sistent of  the  Irish  Whigs,  whom  family  and  fortune 
alone  could  have  raised  from  obscurity,  endeavoured  to 
give  a  finishing  blow  to  that  virtuous  association,*  which, 
in  the  same  place,  he  had  so  often  eulogised.  He  now 
explicitly  denounced  the  Volunteers  as  enemies  to  that 
Constitution  which  they  had  obtained  for  their  country, 
and  which  he  afterwards  surrendered  to  the  Ministers, 
against  whose  measures  he  had  arrayed  himself  on  every 
important  occasion. 

This  too  great  confidence  of  the  Volunteers,  in  the 
success  of  their  measures  had  thus  led  them  too  rapidly 
into  a  proceeding  that  required  the  most  deliberate  con- 
sideration. The  refusal  of  Parliament  to  receive  their 
Bill  created  a  sensation  which,  for  a  moment,  left  the 
peace  of  Ireland  on  the  very  brink  of  a  precipice.  Lord 
Charlemont  mistook  his  fears  for  his  prudence,  the  Volun- 
teers mistook  their  resentment  for  their  patriotism,  both 
were  disposed  to  extremities,  and  some  decisive  crisis 
appeared  absolutely  inevitable.  That  great  and  patriotic 
army,  which  had  the  year  before  received  the  unanimous 
thanks  of  the  Parliament,  were,  by  the  motion  of  a  Whig, 
nearly  denounced  as  rebels  and  little  less  than  a  declara- 
tion of  war  against  them  was  voted,  even  without  a 
division  in  the  Parliament. 

VII.  By  this  fatal  dilemma,  resistance  or  dissolution 

*  After  the  division,  Mr.  Connolly  moved,  "That  an  humble  address 
be  presented  to  his  Majesty,  to  declare  the  perfect  satisfaction  we  feel, 
and  the  blessings  we  enjoy  under  his  Majesty's  most  auspicious  Govern- 
ment, and  our  present  happy  constitution."  "  And  that,  at  this  time,  we 
feel  it  peculiarly  incumbent  on  us  to  declare  our  resolution  to  support 
the  same  with  our  lives  and  fortunes." 

Thi»  was  an  unequivocal  attack  upon  the  Vo}  inteere  •  it  wa»  cajritd 

26 


302  RISE    AND    FALL 

alone  retrained  to  the  Convention.  The  most  in  elligenl 
of  that  body  determined  that  a  day  or  two  should  be 
taken  to  reflect  on  the  best  course  of  proceeding.  But 
Lord  Charlemont  dreaded  the  consequence  of  discussion, 
arid  decided  rather  to  betray  his  trust  than  hazard  insur- 
rection, and  to  adopt  ihe  safer  step  of  dissolving  the 
Convention. 

It  is  not  easy  to  describe  the  uneasiness  and  deep 
solicitude  of  the  Convention  pending  that  debate.  Re- 
porters were  perpetually  passing  and  repassing  between 
the  two  assemblies ;  the  impatience  of  the  Volunteers  was 
rising  into  a  storm ;  Earl  Charlemont,  overwhelmed  by 
his  apprehension,  saw  no  course  but  to  induce  them  to 
adjourn ;  they,  however,  waited  till  long  after  midnight, 
in  a  state  between  anger  and  anxiety.  Lord  Charlemont 
did  not  oppose,  but  he  duped  them.  He  received  a  note 
from  the  House  of  Commons,  which  he  said  left  no  hopes 
of  a  speedy  decision,  and  he  had  the  address  and  influence 
to  induce  the  Convention  to  adjourn  till  Monday  morning 
at  the  usual  hour,  then  to  decide  upon  ulterior  measures, 
if  their  Bill  should  be  rejected.  But  his  Lordship  had 
secretly  determined  that  they  should  meet  no  more  ;  the 
death  of  the  Convention  was  pronounced  by  their 
adjournment;  and  the  honest,  patriotic,  but  feeble  Char- 
lemont, on  the  Monday  morning  began  to  extinguish  that 
institution  to  which  he  owed  his  celebrity,  and  to  paralyze 
that  proud  popular  spirit  to  which  alone  Ireland  was  in- 
debted for  its  constitution  and  independence. 

VIII.  Sunday  was  passed  between  his  indecision  and 
his  timidity.  In  his  weak  and  virtuous  mind,  pride  and 
patriotism  were  ranged  on  the  one  side ;  but  imbecility 
and  a  sense  of  incapacity  to  meet  the  crisis,  blinded  him 
to  the  nature  of  that  insidious  conduct,  which  on  this, 
aad  perhaps  the  only  occasion  of  his  life,  he  meditated 
against  his  benefactors. 

He  had  a  meeting  of  a  few  of  his  friends,  most  of  whom 
had  the  same  sensations  as  himself.  The  Bishop  of  Derry 
and  Mr.  Flood  appeared  like  daring  spectres  to  his 
imagination ;  he  dreaded  to  meet  them  at  the  Convention, 
and  after  much  deliberation,  he  decided  on  a  course  which 
detracted  from  his  reputation,  and  for  which  even  the  cri* 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  303 

tical  situation  of  the  country  could  not  allow  him  on« 
point  of  justification. 

On  the  Monday  morning  he  repaired  to  the  Rotunda, 
before  the  usual  hour  of  sitting.  None  but  his  own 
immediate  partisans  were  aware  of  his  intention ;  the 
meeting  was  expected  to  be  most  important,  and  the 
Delegates  had  no  suspicion  of  his  Lordship's  early  atten- 
dance. 

On  his  taking  the  chair,  a  Delegate  immediately  arose 
to  expatiate  on  the  insults  which  the  Convention  had 
leceived  during  the  debate  of  Saturday.  His  Lordship 
oecame  alarmed  ;  a  protracted  statement  might  give  time 
for  the  arrival  of  Delegates,  when  all  his  objects  would 
surely  be  frustrated.  He  at  once  took  a  step  which  had 
scarcely  a  parallel  for  duplicity,  and  which,  though  of  the 
shallowest  nature,  proved  the  most  effectual. 

He    instantly  silenced  the  member,  as  being  out   of 

order,  on  the  ground  that  one  House  of  Parliament  never 

could  take  notice  of  what  passed  in  another ;  and  that 

the  Convention  had  adopted  the  rules  and  orders  of  Par- 

iament. 

Thus  by  collecting  every  ray  of  feebleness  and  absur- 
dity into  one  focus,  he  prevented  any  continuation  of  the 
subject;  and  whilst  he  declared  the  Convention  a  House 
of  Parliament,  resolved  to  terminate  its  existence. 

IX.  After  some  conversation,  a  farewell  address  was 
rapidly  passed  to  his  Majesty,  and  his  Lordship  boldly 
adjourned  the  Convention — sine  die.  The  Rotunda  was 
quickly  vacated,  and  when  the  residue  of  the  Delegates, 
the  ardent  friends  of  the  Volunteer  body,  came  to  take 
their  places,  they  found  the  doors  closed,  the  Chairman 
withdrawn,  and  that  body  upon  which  the  nation  relied 
for  its  independence  dissolved  for  ever. 

The  Delegates  mortified  and  abashed,  returned  to  their 
homes;  many  friends  of  Earl  Charlemont  were  soon 
ashamed  of  their  conduct ;  and  his  Lordship's  want  of 
sincerity,  for  the  first  time  was  indisputably  proved,  and 
underwent  well-merited  animadversions. 

The  Volunteer  Delegates  having  returned  to  their  con 
stituents,  could  give  but  a  puerile  account  either  of  their 
proceedings  or  of  their  Chairman.  Every  eye  now 
turned  on  th*1  Earl  of  Bristol,  who  became  the  idol  of 


304  miSE    AND   FALL 

the  people.  Whilst  Lord  Charlemont  gently  desc  nd«d 
into  the  placid  ranks  of  order  and  of  courtesy,  the  Bishop 
rose  like  a  phoenix  from  the  ashes  of  the  Convention. 
The  Volunteer  Corps  in  many  districts  beat  to  arms ;  they 
paraded,  they  deliberated,  but  their  bond  of  union  was 
enfeebled  or  dissevered. 

Amongst  the  weaknesses  of  Lord  Charlemont,  he  had 
an  odious  tinge  of  bigotry,  and  was  decidedly  opposed  to 
the  admission  of  Catholics  to  the  full  enjoyment  of  the 
Constitution.  The  Bishop,  with  more  zeal  and  much 
greater  abilities  was  their  warmest  advocate. 

Exclusion  on  the  one  side,  and  toleration  on  the  other 
became  the  theme  of  both.  The  dispute  ran  high  ;  par- 
tisans were  not  wanting,  the  people  began  to  separate; 
and  this  unfortunate  controversy  gradually  terminated  in 
that  fatal  dissension  which  never  ceased  to  divide  the  Irish 
nation,  and  at  length  effected  all  the  objects  of  mischief 
that  the  most  ruthless  enemies  of  the  Irish  couid  ha/t 
expected,  or  have  even  wished. 


THE    IRISH    NATION. 


305 


CHAPTER    X  X. 

Celebrated  Address  of  the  Volunteers  to  the  Bishop — Reply  of  the 
Bishop — Some  thought  the  Bishop's  answer  too  strong — A  new  Bill 
suggested — New  measures  of  Earl  Charlemont — Decline  of  the  Vol- 
unteers— Insincerity  of  the  concessions — Cupidity  of  English  traders 
— Sordid  interest  absorbed  her  justice — Commercial  treaty  and  tariff 
proposed — Commercial  propositions — Mr.  Pitt's  duplicity — Magnifi- 
cence of  the  Irish  Court — The  Propositions  rejected — Mr.  Biownlow 
opposes  the  eleven  propositions — Passed  the  Commons — Mr.  Pitt 
proposes  twenty  propositions — Embarrassment  of  the  Secretary  — 
Most  violent  debates  in  the  Irish  Parliament — The  Minister  virtually 
defeated — The  treaty  ended — Defeat  of  the  treaty  effected  by  the  coun 
try  gentlemen — Mr.  Forbes  a  leading  member  of  the  House  of  Com 
mons — Mr.  Hardy — Mr.  Carleton,  Solicitor  General — His  singula! 
character 

I.  After  this  fatal  event,  the  Volunteers  became  less 
calm  and  more  unguarded.  The  address  of  one  regi- 
ment to  the  Bishop  of  Deny,  forms  an  interesting  fea- 
ture of  Irish  history,  and  it  gave  rise  to  a  reply,  such  as 
had  not  been  ventured  upon  by  any  public  character  in 
either  country. 

A  northern  corps,  of  considerable  strength,  had  adopted 
the  patriotic  title  of  the  "  Bill  of  Rights  Battalion,"  and 
had  entered  into  resolutions  to  "support  their  constitu 
tion,  or  be  buried  under  its  ruins."  A  large  detachment 
of  that  corps  marched  from  their  county,  determined  to 
uphold  the  Bishop's  principles,  and  support  his  measures, 
with  their  lives  and  fortunes.  The  address  and  the 
answer  are  strongly  illustrative  of  the  spirit  of  the  timej^ 
and  the  embarrassment  of  the  Cabinet. 

This  declaration  ran  like  wild  fire  throughout  tfte 
nation.  The  last  sentence  was  the  boldest  and  most  un- 
equivocal, the  most  daring  and  decisive,  used  in  Ireland. 
A  British  Earl  and  Irish  Bishop,  of  great  wealth,  learn- 
ing, abilities,  and  of  unbounded  popular  influence,  risking 
his  fortune,  and  perhaps  his  life,  in  support  of  Ireland, 
was  in  every  respect  a  phenomenon. 

26* 


306  RISE    AND    FALL 

His  Lordship's  desire  to  put  himself  at  the  head  of  th#. 
Irish  nation  wis  no  longer  doubtful,  and  well  was  he 
calculated  to  lead  it  to  every  extremity.  All  men  were 
now  convinced  that,  had  his  Lordship  been  President  of 
the  National  Convention,  the  moderate  and  courtly 
Charlemont  must  either  have  submitted  to  his  standard, 
or  have  sunk  into  nihility. 

"  BILL  OF  RIGHTS  BATTALION. 

"  Resolved — That  the  following  Address  be  presented 
from  this  Battalion,  under  arms,  to  the  Earl  of  Bristol, 
Lord  Bishop  of  Derry,  for  his  truly  patriotic  exertions  in 
;upport  of  our  rights  and  liberties  : — 

*  To  the  Right  Honourable  the  Earl  of  Bristol,  Lord 
Bishop  of  Derry.  The  Address  of  the  Bill  of  Rights 
Battalion  of  Volunteers. 

"  My  Lord, — Having,  with  the  eye  of  silent  approba- 
tion, viewed  your  conduct,  in  every  stage  of  its  progress, 
at  the  Grand  National  Convention  of  Volunteer  Dele- 
gates, we  are  impelled,  by  those  generous  sentiments 
that  actuate  the  breasts  of  Irishmen,  to  offer  your  Lord- 
ship this  Address,  as  a  mark  of  affection  and  of  gratitude. 

"  We  see,  with  indignation  and  concern,  the  treatment 
which  the  wise,  spirited,  and  salutary  Resolutions  of  the 
Volunteer  Convention  have  received;  but  we  trust  the 
virtuous  efforts  of  a  united  people,  under  the  auspices  of 
your  Lordship,  will  cleanse  the  Augean  stable — the 
noisome  stalls  of  venality  and  corruption. 

"The  gloomy  clouds  of  superstition  and  bigotry,  those 
engines  of  disunion,  being  fled  the  realm,  the  intrests  of 
Ireland  can  no  longer  suffer  by  a  diversity  of  religion* 
persuasions.  All  are  united  in  the  pursuit  of  one  grea* 
object — ihe  extermination  of  corruption  from  our  Con- 
stitution ;  nor  can  your  Lordship  and  your  virtuous 
coadjutors,  in  promoting  civil  and  religious  liberty,  be 
destitute  of  the  aid  of  all  professions. 

"  Permit  us  10  assure  you  that  as  freemen,  freeholders, 
and  as  Volunteers,  out  exertions  to  effectuate  the  grand 
work  of  reformed  1O/1.  .s.  all  be  as  strenuous  as  the  aim  is 


OF    THE    TRISH    NATION.  30'' 

important:  and  that  we  are,    with  unfeigned  gratitude 
and  attachment,  your  Lordship's  most  faithful  friends. 
"  Signed,  by  order  of  the  Battalion, 

"JOHN  ORR,  Sec" 

A  detachment  from  the  Battalion,  consisting  of  eighty 
rank  and  file,  headed  by  their  lieutenant-colonel,  waited 
on  his  Lordship,  on  the  14th  instant,  at  Downhill,  and 

? resented,   under   arms,   their   Address :   to   which   his 
,ordship  was  pleased  to  give  the  subsequent  reply : — 

"Gentlemen. — When  you  acknowledged  the  services 
of  your  fellow-citizens,  in  the  County  of  Antrim,  in  the 
late  struggle  for  liberty,  you  rewarded  their  toils  in  that 
coin  most  valuable  to  virtuous  men ;  and  your  approba- 
tion of  their  efforts,  in  some  measure,  consoled  them  for 
their  want  of  success. 

"  But,  when  you  step  forth  from  your  own  county,  to 
hail  the  individual  of  another,  unknown  to  you  but  by 
his  honest  endeavours,  and  unconnected,  except  by  that 
kindred  spirit  which  seems  now,  at  length,  to  pervade 
the  whole  body  of  Irishmen,  and,  like  a  Promethean  fire, 
to  animate  a  hitherto  lifeless  mass,  the  satisfaction  excited 
m  his  mind,  by  the  applauses  of  men  who  have  a  right 
to  approve  what  they  dare  to  support,  can  be  known  only 
to  those  who  are  conscious  of  deserving  what  they  are 
fortunate  enough  to  receive. 

"  When  the  conscience  of  a  patriot  bears  testimony  to 
the  truth  of  the  panegyric,  and  the  sincerity  of  the  pane- 
gyrists' praise  ceases  to  be  adulation,  then  they  become 
the  wholesome  food  of  a  manly  mind,  and  nourish  that 
virtue  they  were,  at  first,  intended  only  to  approve. 

"  But,  gentlemen,  those  *who  dare  assert  their  own 
rights,  should  rise  above  the  meau  policy  of  violating  the 
rights  of  others. 

"  There  is,  in  this  island,  a  class  of  citizens  equally 
respectable,  and  infinitely  more  numerous  than  those  who 
have  hitherto  oppressed  them — 

"  Men  who  have  long  crouched  under  ihe  iron  rod  of 
their  oppressors,  not  from  any  dastardly  insensibility  to 
their  shackles — not  from  any  unmanly  indifference  to  the 
inalienable  rights  of  men  ;   but  from  a  pious  dread  of 


308  RISE    AND    FALL 

wounding  our  common  country  through  the  sides  of  its 
tyrants — 

"  Men.  in  whose  hearts  beats  at  this  instant  as  high  a 
pulse  for  liberty,  and  through  whose  veins  pours  a  tide 
of  as  pure  blood,  and  as  noble  too,  as  any  that  animates 
the  proudest  citizen  i  ,  Ireland — 

"  Men,  whose  ancestors,  at  the  hazard  of  their  property, 
and  with  the  loss  of  their  lives,  obtained  the  first  great 
Bill  of  Rights,  and  upon  which  every  other  must  be 
founded — the  Magna  Charta  of  Ireland — 

"  Men,  whose  ancestors,  in  the  midst  of  ignorance, 
could  distinguish  between  the  duties  of  a  religionist  and 
the  rights  of  a  citizen,  and  who  enacted  those  elementary 
and  never  obsolete  statutes  of  praemunire,  which,  for 
centuries,  have  been  an  irrefragable  monument  of  their 
sagacity  in  distinguishing,  and  their  fortitude  in  severing, 
their  duty  to  the  Church  of  Rome  from  their  dependence 
on  its  Court — 

"  Men,  the  undegenerate  progeny  of  such  virtuous 
ancestors,  who,  with  a  firmness  worthy  of  our  imitation, 
and  still  more  worthy  of  our  gratitude,  have  endured 
those  very  outrages  from  their  country  which  their  fore- 
fathers spurned  at  from  its  sovereign,  and  who,  under  a 
series  of  accumulated  wrongs,  which  would  heighten  the 
disgrace  of  human  policy  if  they  could  be  paralleled  in 
its  annals,  have  with  a  fortitude  as  unexampled  as  their 
oppression,  allowed  every  thing  dear  to  the  human  heart 
to  be  wrecked,  except  their  religion  and  their  patriotism, 
except  their  acquiescence  to  the  will  of  an  inscrutable 
God,  and  their  affection  for  a  mistaken  and  deluded 
country, 

"  But,  Gentlemen,  the  hour  is  now  come,  when  sound 
policy,  as  well  as  irresistible  justiee  will  compel  those 
who  demand  their  own  rights,  to  support  their  claim  by 
a  restitution  of  those  of  their  fellow  citizens. 

"  When  Ireland  must  necessarily  avail  herself  of  her 
whole  internal  force  to  ward  off  foreign  encroachments, 
or  once  more  acquiesce  under  those  encroachments,  the 
better  to  exercise  anew  the  tyranny  of  a  part  of  the  com- 
munity over  the  dearest  and  inalienable  rights  of  others. 

"  For  one  million  of  divided  Protestants  can  never,  in 
the  scale  of  human  government,  be  a  c(  unterpoise  againsl 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  30fc 

three  millions  of  united  Catholics.  But.  Gentlemen  oi 
the  Bill  of  Rights  Battalion,  I  appeal  to  yourselves,  and 
summon  you  to  consistency — Tyranny  is  not  Govern- 
ment, and  Allegiance  is  due  only  to  Protection 

"  BRISTOL." 
"  Uth  January,  1784." 

II.  The  Government  now  became  seriously  alarmed. 
Never  was  any  government  in  greater  difficulty.  Various 
were  its  advisers  at  this  important  moment ;  those  in 
council,  whose  arrogance  and  arbitrary  feelings  generally 
outweighed  their  prudence,  strongly  enforced  the  most 
dangerous  of  all  measures,  the  immediate  arrest  of  the 
Bishop.  They  contended  that,  by  such  energy,  and  by 
at  once  depriving  the  Volunteers  of  so  enthusiastic  a 
partisan,  they  might  check  their  progress  ;  but  they  never 
reflected  on  the  utter  inability  of  Government  to  enforce 
that  resolution. 

The  daring  and  dangerous  strength  of  the  Bishop's 
language,  the  glaring  light  which  by  the  last  sentence, 
was  thrown  upon  the  conditional  terms  of  allegiance,  as 
settled  under  the  precedent  of  1680,  though  totally  inap 
plicable  to  the  Irish  nation,  or  to  the  state  of  its  connec- 
tion with  Great  Britain,  astounded  all  men.  But  the 
Government  soon  perceived  the  inevitable  convulsion 
which  must  have  attended  so  violent  a  step  as  Fitzgibbon 
had  recommended.  It  would  have  been  the  signal  for 
100,000  Volunteers  rushing  to  the  rescue,  and  one  week 
would  have  produced  an  insurrection,  the  smallest  spark 
would  now  have  inflamed  the  nation. 

The  Government  resolved  to  watch  the  progress  of 
events  over  which  control  might  be  impossible.  This 
couise  fully  corresponded  with  their  utmost  expectations. 

Many  of  the  most  patriotic  Volunteers  thought  the  ad 
dress  of  the  Bishop  true  in  principle,  but  too  strong  in 
terms,  particularly  as  it  was  addressed  to  an  armed  corps, 
in  the  centre  of  thousands  who  could  not  fail  to  kindle 
at  the  Promethean  tire  with  which  his  Lordship  had  so 
classically  animated  his  oration. 

The  idea  of  coercing  the  Parliament  very  rapidly  losi 
ground,  and  in  a  short  time  it  became  the  general  opinion, 
'hat  Mr.  Flood's  Reform  Bill  had  been  opposed  by  many 


S10  RISE    AND    PALL 

upon  the  principle,  that  it  was  rather  a  command  than  a 
solicitation  ;  and  that  it  would  be  prudent  to  give  th« 
Parliament  a  fair  trial  before  they  absolutely  condemned 
them.  It  was  thought  that  the  objection  being  removed, 
by  the  dissolution  of  the  National  Convention,  a  new  biJ 
should  be  presented  in  the  ordinary  course  of  parlia- 
mentary proceedings,  by  members  solely  in  their  civil 
character,  and  the  disposition  of  the  House  and  the  re 
solves  of  Government  be  thus  fairly  ascertained. 

The  people  were  severed,  but  the  Government  remain- 
ed compact ;  the  Parliament  was  corrupted,  the  Volun- 
teers were  paralyzed,  and  the  high  spirit  of  the  nation 
exhibited  a  rapid  declension.  The  jealousy  of  patriots 
is  always  destmctive  of  liberty. 

III.  A  new  event,  however,  soon  proved  the  weak  de- 
lusions of  Earl  Charlemont.  At  the  dissolution  of  the 
Convention,  he  recommended  a  Reform  Bill  to  be  pre- 
sented to  Parliament,  as  emanating  solely  from  civi' 
bodies,  unconnected  with  military  character.*  Every 
experiment  is  silly,  where  its  failure  can  be  clearly  ant! 
cipated,  and  almost  every  man  in  Ireland  well  knew,  that 
such  a  bill  would  be  lost  in  such  a  Parliament.  Mr. 
Flood,  however,  tried  the  experiment,  and  it  failed ;  he 
attempted  it  without  spirit,  because  he  was  without  con- 
fidence. Mr.  Grattan  supported  it  with  languor,  because 
it  was  the  measure  of  his  rival.  The  military  bill  had 
been  scouted,  because  it  was  military,  and  the  civil  bill 
was  rejected  because  it  was  popular.  A  corrupt  senate 
never  wants  a  vicious  apology. 

The  Volunteers  now  drooped,  yet  their  resolutions 
were  published,  their  meetings  were  not  suspended,  and 
their  reviews  continued ;  but  these  appeared  only  as  boy- 
ish shows,  to  amuse  the  languid  vanity  of  their  deluded 
general.  He  passed  their  lines  in  military  state  ;  he  re- 
ceived their  salutes  with  grace  and  condescension,  and 
recommended  them  to  be  tranquil  and  obedient ;  and, 
after  a  peaceable  campaign  of  four  hours  duration,  com- 
posed his  mild  and  grammatical  despatches,  and  returned 

•  The  decided  opinion  of  the  whole  Bar,  after  a  long  and  solemn  dis- 
cussion, was  that  the  Volunteers,  as  an  armed  body,  had  not  diveste4 
themselves  of  any  civil  right  polit'cal  or  personal. 


Or   THE    IRISH    NATION.  311 

to  his  Marino,  and  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  more  conge* 
nia]  elegancies  of  literature  and  of  private  friendships. 

The  temperate  system  now  gained  ground ;  some 
patriots  lost  their  energy,  others  lost  their  influence,  and 
the  Government  experienced  the  wisdom  of  their  nega- 
tive measures. 

That  noble  institution,  the  Volunteers  of  Ireland,  sur- 
vived, however,  these  blows  some  years.  This  only 
luminary  of  her  sphere  was,  by  the  devices  of  the  Govern- 
ment, gradually  obscured,  and,  at  length  extinguished  !  ! 

IV.  It  was  not  supposed  that  the  concessions  to  Ireland 
had  been  voluntary  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain.  They 
were  only  a  sacrifice  to  circumstances,  with  the  mental 
reservation  of  acting  upon  the  original  principle,  as  often 
as  events  might  facilitate  such  a  proceeding.  The  egotis- 
tical character  of  the  English  trader,  the  avarice  insepa- 
ble  from  mercantile  education,  and  the  national  impa- 
tience, under  even  an  ideal  rivalship,  united  in  exciting 
every  effort  to  neutralize  the  concessions;  and  it  soon 
became  palpable  to  both  nations,  that  the  free  trade  oi 
Ireland  might  prove  a  sore  impediment  to  the  gratifica- 
tions of  the  English  monopoly.  England  could  not  so 
suddenly  renounce  the  force  of  ancient  habit,  and  of  en- 
grafted prejudices,  and  become,  at  once,  liberal,  enlight- 
ened, and  magnanimous.  No  person  conversant  with 
the  ruling  principles  of  mankind,  could  suppose  that  her 
very  nature  could  change  in  a  day,  and  that  she  could  be 
sincere  towards  Ireland,  as  long  as  it  was  imagined  that 
the  two  countries  had  repugnant  interests. 

The  insatiable  cupidity  of  British  capitalists,  and  the 
necessities  of  the  British  Government,  had  commenced 
their  coalition  even  against  the  prosperity  of  England. 
The  extravagance  of  the  Government  was  supplied  with 
facility,  by  the  usuries  of  the  monied  interest,  and  a  rein 
wa^  given  to  that  boundless  waste  of  public  money, 
which  terminated  in  an  overwhelming  debt,  and  which 
neany  exhausted  financial  ingenuity,  having  not  unfre- 
quently  assailed  the  principles  and  safeguards  of  her  own 
Constitution. 

These  concessions  were  likewise  rendered  peculiarly 
unpalatable,  by  political  circumstances.  England,  at  thai 
gloomy   epoch,  had   not  been  able  to  retain  one  disii> 


512  RISE    AND    PALL 

terested  friend  or  sincere  ally  in  Europe.  She  had  sub 
sidized  German  mendicants,  and  she  had  purchased 
human  blood,  she  had  hired  military  slaves  from  beggarly 
principalities  ;  but  these  were  not  alliances  for  the  honour 
of  Great  Britain. 

The  character  which  England  had  justly  acquired 
previously  to  the  year  1780,  had  raised  her  reputation 
above  that  of  all  the  powers  of  Europe.  The  new  attempt 
on  Ireland,  proclaimed  that  her  sordid  interests  now  ab- 
sorbed every  other  consideration. 

V.  The  minister's  only  excuse  for  his  schemes,  was  the 
pecuniary  wants  of  Government.  But  Mr.  Pitt  feared 
that  Ireland  would  murmur  at  paying  her  portion  of  his 
profuse  extravagance.  Taxation  commenced  on  luxuries, 
proceeded  to  comforts,  to  necessaries,  and,  at  length,  ex- 
tended its  grasp  to  justice  and  morality.  A  treaty  for  a 
commercial  tariff  between  the  two  nations  was  now  pro- 
ceeded on,  and  exposed  that  duplicity  which  had  been 
scarcely  suspected.  The  Irish,  unaccustomed  to  receive 
any  concession  or  favour,  and  little  versed  in  the  schemes 
of  commercial  polity,  gave  a  giddy  confidence  to  the 
dignified  terms  in  which  their  claims  had  been  acknow- 
ledged. Some  able  men,  however,  reasoned  that  the  very 
composition  of  British  Cabinets,  the  means  of  getting  into 
power,  and  of  keeping  it ;  their  private  interests,  and 
public  object,  were  decidedly  adverse  to  any  liberal  parti- 
cipation of  commercial  advantages  with  Ireland.  Upon 
the  English  monopolists  alone,  ministers  could  depend 
for  replenishing  their  Exchequer,  and  for  their  retaining 
their  power.  Men  also  reasoned,  that,  if  England  and 
Ireland  should  clash  on  any  point  of  commerce,  a  British 
Parliament  could  not  serve  two  conflicting  interests,  and 
an  Irish  Parliament  was  not  likely  to  surrender  rights 
she  had  obtained  with  so  much  difficulty  and  danger. 

It  was,  therefore,  palpable  (as  Mr.  Fox  had  mysteriously 
declared)  that  some  further  international  measures  were 
absolutely  necessary,  and  as  Ireland  could  now  legislate 
for  her  own  commerce  with  all  the  world,  it  seemed  advi- 
sable, that  a  commercial  treaty  should  be  contracted  by 
the  two  countries,  which  might  provide  against  any  col- 
lision, and  secure  to  both  nations  the  advantages  of  th# 
federal  compact. 


•F    TRIi    IRISH    NATION.  313 

Nothing  could  be  more  plausible  than  the  theory  of 
this  measure,  and  few  things  more  difficult  to  carry  into 
execution. 

VI.  The  detailed  debates,  on  these  commercial  pro- 
positions are  beyond  the  range  of  this  compact  history.* 
But  it  is  essential  to  remark  upon  them  with  reference  to 
the  conduct  of  Great  Britain,  and  it  may  be  proper  to 
allude  to  the  state  of  Ireland,  at  the  moment  selected  by 
the  minister  for  making  the  first  indirect  attempt  to  re- 
capture the  independence  of  that  devoted  country. 

The  Irish  nation  was  rapidly  advancing  to  eminence 
and  prosperity,  her  commerce  improving,  her  debt  light, 
the  taxes  inconsiderable,  emigration  had  ceased,  and 
population  was  augmenting,  nearly  two  hundred  nobles, 
and  nearly  all  the  commoners,  resided  on  their  demesnes 
and  expended  their  rents  amidst  those  who  paid  them. 
The  Parliament  seemed  to  have  been  awakened  to  a  more 
sedulous  attention  to  the  wishes  of  the  people.  Mr.  Pitt 
took  advantage  of  the  moment  he  saw  that  the  nation  was 
in  good  humour  and  grateful,  and  he  determined,  whilst 
he  flattered  their  vanity  to  invade  their  constitution.  The 
state  of  the  Irish  court  and  aristocracy,  at  this  period, 
seemed  particularly  favourable  to  the  experiment.  The 
constant  residence  of  the  landed  proprietors  was  an  incal- 
culable benefit ;  and  their  influence,  in  mitigating  the 
avarice  of  the  clergy  and  the  irritating  tyranny  of  the 
tithing  system,  was  most  grateful  to  the  people. 

The  vice-regal  establishment  was  at  that  period  much 
more  brilliant  and  hospitable  than  that  of  the  monarch ; 
the  utmost  magnificence  signalized  the  entertainments  of 
the  Duke  and  Duchess  cf  Rutland,  and  their  luxury  gave 
a  powerful  impulse  to  mrrufactures  and  industry.  It  was 
to  be  regretted  howeva.  that  this  magnificence  was 
accompanied  by  circumstances  which  formed  a  new  opoch 

*  The  debates  of  the  Irish  Parlisrr.ent  upon  these  proportions,  were 
taken  with  very  considerable  accuracy  by  Woodfall,  and  cebiiafted  by 
Byrne,  in  Dublin.  Thev  are  valuable  "for  disclosing  the  political  charac- 
ters and  talents  of  nearly  all  the  men  of  note,  then  members  of  the  Irish 
Commons.  Scarcely  any  other  document  better  depicts  the  arrogant  and 
decided  character  of 'Mr.  Fitzgibbon  which  distinguished  him  through  all 
the  subsequent  concerns  of  Ireland,  until,  in  a  characteristic  attempt  to 
lord  it  over  the  British  Peerage,  he  was  politicall)  slain  by  the  Duke  oi 
Bedford. 

2? 


314  RISE    AND    FALL 

(i)  the  habits  of  Irish  society  :  a  laxity  of  decorum  hi  YrAh 
sexes  of  the  fashionable  aristocracy,  had  commenced,  and 
though  the  voluptuous  brilliancy  of  the  Court  was  dazzling 
to  the  country,  it  was  deficient  in  that  proud,  elevated 
dignity  which  had  generally  distinguished  that  society  in 
former  vice-royalties.  Nothing  could  be  more  honourable 
than  the  conduct  of  the  Duke  of  Rutland  ;  but  the  sudden 
relaxation  of  manners  at  his  Court,  was  by  no  means 
gratifying  to  those  who  had  been  accustomed  to  the  unde- 
viating  strictness  of  decorum  amongst  the  Irish  ladies.* 

This  paroxysm  of  joy  throughout  the  country,  confidence 
amongst  the  gentry,  and  absence  of  suspicion  in  the  Par- 
liament, was  judged  by  the  British  Government  the  oppor- 
tunity most  favourable,  under  colour  of  her  commerce  to 
undermine  her  Constitution.  This  proposition  for  a 
treaty  of  commerce  between  England  and  Ireland,  as  two 
independent  countries,  necessarily  required  a  deeper  con- 
sideration than  any  other  event  of  her  history.  No 
decisive  international  overt  act  had,  as  yet,  taken  place 
between  the  two  countries.  But  Mr.  Pitt,  in  his  anxiety 
to  encroach  upon  the  independent  spirit  of  the  compact, 
unintentionally  confirmed  it  upon  a  clear  international 
principle. 

Mr.  Orde,  the  Secretary  of  the  Viceroy,  on  the  7th  of 
February,  1785,  proposed  to  the  Irish  Parliament  eleven 
resolutions,  as  a  distinct  commercial  treaty  between  two 
independent  states.  As  such  they  were  received,  but 
the  treaty  was  at  length  utterly  rejected  by  the  Irish 
Parliament. 

Mr.  Brownlow,  one  of  the  first  country  gentlemen  of 
Ireland,  most  zealously  opposed  it  as  a  badge  of  slavery, 
and  an  attempt  to  encroach  on  the  independence  of  his 
country.  It  was,  however,  conditionally  accepted,  aftei 
much  discussion ;  during  which  a  manoeuvre  was  practised 
by  the  Secretary,  which  would  have  disgraced  the  lowest 
trader.  Mr.  Orde  expatiated  with  great  plausibility 
upon  the  kind  concessions  of  the  English  Government, 

*  Before  this  period,  there  had  been  but  two  actions  of  cnm.  con.  in 
Ireland,  in  both  of  which  noblemen  were  the  plaintiffs;  Lord  Belvidere 
against  his  brother  Captain  Rochfort,  aw'  Lord  Lisle  against  Dennii 
M'Carthy,  his  own  postillion.  There  tad.  however,  been  several  hua> 
dreds  tried  in  Errand. 


Or   THE    IRISH    NATION.  315 

and  the  extraordinary  advantages  likely  to  result  to 
Ireland  ;  and  urged  the  House  to  come  to  a  hasty  decision 
in  their  favour,  "  lest  the  English  ?nonopolist  should  pour 
in  applications  to  the  English  Parliament  to  stop  their 
progress,  as  too  partial  to  Ireland."  The  bait  took,  and 
the  resolutions  were  approved,  and  sent  back  with  some 
alterations. 

His  artifice,  however,  was  defeated,  and  Mr.  Orde  was 
left  in  a  situation  of  excessive  embarrassment  and  appeared 
equally  ridiculous  to  both  countries.  Mr.  Pitt  having 
gained  his  first  point,  conceived  it  possible  to  assail  more 
openly  the  independence  of  Ireland,  by  attaching  her 
finances  and  commerce  to  Great  Britain,  so  that  her  own 
Parliament  should  become,  if  not  impotent,  at  least  con- 
temptible. 

Instead,  therefore  of  rediscussing  the  eleven  resolutions 
as  approved  by  Ireland,  he  brought  twenty  propositions 
before  the  English  Parliament,  incorporated  in  a  Bil 
framed  with  such  consummate  artifice,  that  it  affected  to 
confer  favours,  whilst  it  rendered  the  Irish  Parliament 
only  the  register  of  all  English  statutes  relating  to  com- 
merce ;  and,  by  a  perpetual  money  bill,  appropriated  a 
proportion  of  her  hereditary  revenue  to  the  uses  of  the 
British  Navy. 

VII.  Mr.  Orde*  himself  was  utterly  uncertain  how  to 
proceed,  and  after  many  adjournments,  on  the  12th  of 
August,  1785,  he  moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  Bil) 
pursuant  to  Mr  Pitt's  twenty  propositions.  The  country 
gentlemen  of  Ireland,  though  they  did  not  understand  the 
commercial  details  of  the  subject,  perceived  the  design 
of  the  minister.  A  storm  arose  in  Parliament,  the 
landed  interests  of  the  country  were  alarmed,  the  country 
gentlemen  grew  boisterous,  the  law  officers  were  arrogant, 
the  patriots  retorted,  and  rendered  the  debate  one  of  the 
most  inflammatory  that  had  for  some  years  been  witnessed , 

*  Mr.  Orde,  the  Secretary,  a  cold,  cautious,  slow,  and  sententious 
man,  tolerably  well  informed,  but  not  at  all  talented,  had  a  mind  neither 
powerful  nor  feeble ;  as  a  public  man  he  could  not  be  despised,  as  an  Eng- 
lish Factor,  he  could  plausibly  enhance  the  property  he  was  entrusted  to 
dispose  of,  though  he  well  knew  there  was  a  rent  within  its  folds.  He 
had  much  to  gain,  for  of  political  reputation  he  had  nothing  to  be  de- 
prived. He  certainly  did  as  much  as  could  be  effected  on  the  subject,  and 
*  British  peerage  condoled  him  for  his  Irish  discomfiture. 


316  RISE    AND    FALL 

Long  and  furious  was  that  remarkable  contest.  Fitz<_  ibbou 
the  Attorney  General,  exhibited  an  arrogance  which 
more  than  equalled  any  of  his  former  exhibitions ;  he 
insulted  many,  and  used  the  most  overbearing  language 
to  all  who  opp(  sed  him.  The  debate  continued  all  night, 
and,  at  nine  o'clock  next  morning,  the  violence  was 
undiminished,  and  it  was  difficult  to  put  the  question:  at 
length  a  division  at  once  announced  the  equivocal  victory 
of  the  Minister.  The  numbers  for  Government  were  127, 
against  the  Minister  108,  leaving  only  a  majority  of  19. 
As  the  motion  was  only  for  leave  to  bring  in  the  Bill,  it 
was  obvious  that  on  a  second  reading  it  would  have  been 
disgracefully  rejected.  Mr.  Flood  then  moved  a  decla- 
ration of  rights;  another  division  still  less  favourable 
to  the  Minister  succeeded;  an  adjournment,  therefore,, 
and  a  prorogation  took  place,  and  the  subject  was  never 
renewed. 

Mr.  Pitt  never  would  have  brought  in  his  Bill,  had  he 
not  been  assured  of  success  by  the  Irish  Secretary ;  this 
defeat,  therefore,  was  the  more  galling,  and  it  confirmed, 
in  his  persevering  and  inflexible  mind,  a  determination,  if 
he  could  not  rule  the  Irish  Parliament,  to  annihilate  the 
independence  of  Ireland.  Mr.  Pitt  never  was  scrupulous 
as  to  means,  and  a  much  more  important  point  shortly 
confirmed  his  determination  by  proving  that,  upon  vital 
imbjects  he  had  not  yet  sufficiently  humbled  the  people, 
t>f  been  able  sufficiently  to  seduce  their  representatives. 

These  propositions  were  in  fact  defeated  by  the  honest 
obstinacy  of  the  country  gentlemen,  and  by  the  influence 
and  talents  of  Mr.  Grattan  and  Mr.  Flood,  who,  upon 
this  subject  alone,  were  perfectly  in  unison.  It  is  worthy 
of  observation,  that  the  zeal  and  honesty  of  Mr.  Con- 
nolly, in  supporting  the  independence  of  his  country 
against  the  agency  of  Mr.  Orde,  were  utterly  reversed 
by  his  subsequently  supporting  the  still  more  destructive 
measures  of  his  corrupt  and  unfortunate  relative. 

VIII.  During  these  scenes,  some  men,  who,  though 
not  of  the  highest  order  of  talent,  were  in  considerable 
reputation  and  of  untainted  integrity,  exerted  themselves 
in  defence  of  their  country;  amongst  them,  the  most 
active  was  Mr.  Forbes,  the  Member  for  Drogheda. 
Without  any  very  distinguished  natural  abilities,  and  bui 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  317 

moderately  acquainted  with  literature,  by  his  zealous  at 
tachment  to  Mr.  Grattan,  his  public  principles,  and  atten- 
tion, to  business,  he  received  much  respect,  and  acquired 
some  influence  in  the  House  of  Commons.  He  had 
practised  at  the  bar  with  a  probability  of  success  ;  but  he 
mistook  his  course,  and  became  a  statesman,  as  which 
he  never  could  rise  to  any  great  distinction.  As  a 
lawyer,  he  undervalued  himself  and  was  modest ;  as  a 
stateman,  he  over-rated  himse  f,  and  was  presumptuous 
He  benefitted  his  party  by  his  indefatigable  zeal,  and  re 
fleeted  honour  upon  it  by  his  character  ;  he  was  a  good 
Irishman,  and  to  the  last  undeviating  in  his  public  prin- 
ciples. He  died  in  honourable  exile,  as  Governor  of  the 
Bahama  Isles. 

In  a  class  lower  as  a  politician,  but  higher  as  a  man  of 
letters,  and  equal  in  integrity,  stood  Mr.  Hardy,  the  bio- 
grapher of  Earl  Charlemont.  He  had  been  returned  to 
Parliament  by  the  interest  of  Earl  Granard,  and  faith- 
fully followed  the  fortunes  of  that  nobleman  and  his  rela 
tive,  Earl  Moira,  throughout  all  the  political  vicissitudes 
of  Ireland. 

His  mind  was  too  calm,  and  his  habits  too  refined,  foi 
the  rugged  drudgery  of  the  bar — he  was  not  sufficiently 
profound  for  a  statesman,  and  was  too  mild  for  a  political 
wrangler — his  ambition  was  languid,  and  he  had  no  love 
of  lucre — he  therefore  was  not  eminent  either  as  a  poli 
tician  or  a  lawyer.  Like  many  other  modest  and  accom- 
plished men  he  was  universally  esteemed.  He  had  suf- 
ficient talents,  had  he  possessed  energy,  and  his  interest 
was  always  the  last  of  his  considerations ;  his  means 
were  narrow,  and  his  exertions  inconsiderable. 

IX.  Mr.  (afterwards  Viscount)  Carleton,  was,  during  a 
part  of  this  important  period,  Solicitor  General  of  Ireland, 
and  no  man  was  less  adequate  to  the  parliamentary 
duties  of  that  office.  He  was,  of  course,  but  little  noticed 
by  the  recorders  of  that  epoch  ;  and  is  almost  a  dead 
letter  in  the  memoirs  of  Ireland.  His  conduct  on  the 
Union,  however,  was  remarkable. 

Viscount  Carleton  was  the  son  of  a  respectable  mer- 
chant of  Cork,  and  was  created  Solicitor  General  when 
the  superior  law  offices  were  considered  as  stations  of 
very  considerable  weight,  and  of  much  official  dignity 

27* 


318 


RISE    AND    FALL 


At  the  bar  he  was  efficient ;  on  the  bench  he  was  exem- 
plary. With  a  plain  and  exclusively  forensic  talent,  cul- 
tivated by  ah  assiduity  nothing  could  surpass,  he  attain- 
ed very  considerable  professional  eminence  :  his  whole 
capacity  seemed  to  have  been  formed  into  points  of  law, 
regularly  numbered,  and  always  ready  for  use.  His 
limited  genius  seldom  wandered  beyond  the  natural 
boundary ;  but  whenever  it  chanced  to  stray  to  general 
subjects,  it  appeared  always  to  return  to  its  symmetrical 
technicalities  with  great  gratfication. 

Habit  and  application  had  made  him  a  singular  pro- 
ficient in  that  methodical  hair-splitting  of  legal  distinc- 
tions, and  in  reconciling  the  incongruity  of  conflicting 
precedents,  which  generally  beget  the  reputation  of  an 
able  lawyer.  The  government  were  glad  to  get  him  out 
of  Parliament,  and  without  intending  it,  did  an  essential 
service  to  the  due  administration  of  justice. 

As  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  his  naturally 
gentle  manners  and  affability,  his  legal  knowledge,  and 
the  rectitude  of  his  decisions,  procured  him  the  unani- 
mous approbation  of  his  profession.  He  had  no  enemies. 
But,  even  in  his  prime,  he  was  a  most  feeble  and  ineffi- 
cient legislator  and  statesman  ;  his  capacity  was  not  suf- 
ficiently comprehensive  to  embrace  subjects  of  constitu- 
tional polity.  He  brought  the  attributes  of  his  trade  into 
Parliament,  and  appeared  either  blind  or  indifferent  to 
those  varied  and  luxuriant  labyrinths  which  the  princi- 
ples of  civil  liberty  eternally  disclose,  and  which  the 
enlightened  legislator  never  fails  to  discover,  and  never 
ceases  to  enjoy. 

When  men  shall  read  the  childish,  contemptible,  and 
strained  attempts  at  reasoning,  which  were  pronounced 
by  him  upon  the  discussion  of  the  Union,  and  reflect  upon 
the  duplicity  of  his  professions,  and  his  predetermined 
emigration,  it  must  be  regretted,  that  a  judge  so  compe- 
tent and  indspendent,  and  a  man  so  respected,  should 
have  yielded  his  country  against  his  conviction,  and  lent 
his  fair  fame  to  the  corrupting  Minister.* 

*  After  Lord  Carleton  had  supported  the  Union,  he  was  suffered  to 
retire,  on  the  ground  of  declining  health,  on  a  magnificent  pension.  H# 
immediately  emigrated  to  London,  and  lived  in  excellent  health  and  spir 
'lis  for  f  mr-and-twenty  yea *•* 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  319 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

fet.h  of  tne  Duke  of  Rutland — Marquis  of  Buckingham's  second  Gov- 
ernment— The  question  of  a  Regency — Mr.  Pitt's  conducts — The 
Prince  submitted  to  the  restraints — The  Irish  resisted,  and  refused  to 
restrain  him — Unprecedented  case — Collision  between  the  two  Parlia- 
ments— Round  Robin — Irish  address  to  the  Prince — Sketch  of  the 
Arguments  on  the  Regency  question  in  Ireland — Constitutional  state 
of  both  nations — Conduct  of  the  nations  contrasted — Reasons  for  the 
Irish  Parliament  pvoceeding  by  Address,  and  not  by  Statute,  to  appoint 
a  Regent — Question  whether  the  Parliaments  of  England  or  Ireland 
had  committed  a  breach  of  the  Constitution — Threats  of  the  Viceroy — 
The  Round  Robin — Viceroy  determined  to  retire — Reception  of  the 
Irish  delegates  by  the  Prince — Address  of  the  Irish  Parliament  to  the 
Prince — Reply  of  the  Prince,  eulogizing  the  Irish  legislature — After- 


/.  The  British  Government,  for  a  short  time,  affected  to 
relinquish  the  idea  of  opposing  the  commercial  interests 
of  Ireland.  It  was  determined  to  let  the  Irish  take  their 
own  course,  and  patiently  to  await,  till  circumstances 
might  enable  them  to  act  more  decisively  against  their 
independence. 

Mr.  Pitt  was  obliged  to  rest  upon  his  oars :  his  own 
bark  was  tempest  tossed,  whilst  that  of  Ireland  was  run- 
ning rapidly  before  a  prosperous  wind.  This  was  the  state 
of  Ireland  after  the  proposition-tempest  had  subsided, 
when  the  Duke  of  Rutland's  incessant  conviviality  deprived 
(October,  1787)  the  British  Peerage  of  an  honourable, 
generous,  and  high-minded  nobleman,  and  Ireland  of  a 
Viceroy,  whose  government  did  nothing,  or  worse  than 
nothing,  for  the  Irish  people.  With  the  aristocracy,  the 
Duke  was  singularly  popular,  and  he'  was  not  disliked  by 
any  class  of  the  community;  but  his  advisers  were  pro- 
fligate, and  his  measures  were  corrupt.  His  Grace  and 
the  Duchess  were  reckoned  the  handsomest  couple  in 
Ireland. 

The  Marquis  )f  Buckingham  was  sent,  a  second  time, 
to  govern  Ireland.    As  a  moderate,  hard-working  Viceroy 


320  RISE    AND    FALL 

with  a  Catholic  wife,  he  was  selected,  as  not  unlikely  to 
be  agreeable  to  the  Irish. 

Little,  however,  was  it  supposed,  that  the  most  impor- 
tant and  embarrassing  of  all  constitutional  questions  be- 
tween the  two  countries  was  likely  to  occur  during  his 
administration.  Unfortunately,  however,  such  did  arise, 
through  the  necessity  of  appointing  a  Regent  during  the 
Monarch's  aberration  of  intellect. 

This  great  question,  and  its  influence  on  the  federative 
compact  of  the  two  nations,  now  entirely  occupied  the 
attention  of  both  Parliaments.  The  Prince,  at  that 
periodj  held  a  line  of  politics,  and  employed  a  class  ol 
servants,  different  from  those  he  afterwards  adopted. 
Mr.  Pitt  well  knew  that  his  own  reign,  and  that  of  the 
Cabinet  he  commanded,  were  in  danger — that  they  could 
endure  no  longer  than  some  tatters  of  the  royal  prero- 
gative and  restraints  on  the  Regent  should  remain  in  his 
hands  as  minister,  by  which  he  could  curb  the  Regency, 
which  might  otherwise  be  fatal  to  his  ambition  and  his 
cabinet. 

He  therefore  resisted,  with  all  his  energy,  the  heir- 
apparent^  right  to  the  prerogatives  of  his  father,  and 
struggled  to  restrain  the  Prince  from  many  of  those 
essential  powers  of  the  executive  authority. 

The  Prince  acted  with  that  dignity  of  which  he  was 
so  much  a  master,  but,  through  a  state  necessity,  sub- 
mitted reluctantly  to  the  restraints  prescribed  by  his.own 
servants ;  and,  from  a  delicacy  to  the  feeling  of  his 
mother,  retained  in  his  service  a  minister  whom,  on  every 
other  ground,  he  would  have  been  more  than  justified  in 
dismissing  with  indignation. 

The  Irish  nation  had  nothing  to  do  with  this  private 
circumstance,  and  the  Parliament  would  not  obey  the 
minister,  or  submit  to  the  mandates  of  the  British  Go- 
vernment. They  decided  that  the  Prince  was  their 
Regent,  in  virtue  of  the  federative  compact ;  and  they 
also  determined  that  he  should  have  all  the  regal  prero- 
gatives connected  with  the  monarchy  of  Ireland. 

Upon  this  subject  debates  arose,  more  embarrassing 
than  any  that  had  ever  taken  pluce  in  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ment. It  was  a  casus  omissus,  both  in  the  British  Revo- 
lution of  1688,  and  in  the  Irish  Constitution  of  1782. 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  321 

The  question  was,  whether  the  Parliament  of  Ireland 
were  competent,  by  address  or  otherwise.  t<  invest  the 
Regent  with  more  extensive  privileges,  as  to  Ireland, 
than  the  British  Parliament  had  thought  fit  to  entrust  to 
him  in  England. 

II.  This  point  was  without  precedent;  but  it  was 
argued,  that  if  an  act  of  Parliament  were  necessary,  no 
Regent  could  be  appointed,  for  an  aci  implied  the  ex- 
istence of  the  third  estate,  and  the  proper  proceeding 
was,  therefore,  by  address.  The  probability  of  His 
Majesty's  recovery  had  a  powerful  influence  on  placemen 
and  official  connections.  The  Marquis  of  Buckingham 
took  a  decisive  part  against  the  Prince,  and  made  bold 
and  hazardous  attempts  upon  the  rights  of  the  Irisvi  Par- 
liament. That  body  was  indignant  at  his  presumption, 
and  he  found  it  impossible  to  govern  or  control  even  the 
habitual  supporters  of  every  administration.  Fitzgibbon, 
the  Attorney  General,  was  promised  the  seals,  if  he  suc- 
ceeded for  Mr.  Pitt,  and  he  even  announced  that  every 
opponent  should  be  made  the  victim  of  his  suffrage. 
Lord  Buckingham  even  threatened  those  who  would  not 
coincide  with  the  British  Parliament ;  the  then  powerful 
family  of  Ponsonby,  decided  supporters  of  Government, 
on  this  occasion  seceded  from  the  Marquis,  and  which 
gave  rise  to  the  famous  and  spirited  Round  Robin.*  Many 
however,  may  be  induced  to  ask,  why  it  was  expedient  tc 
be  honest  in  a  circle. 

After  long  and  ardent  debates,  an  address  of  the  Irish 
Parliament  was  voted  to  the  Prince,  declaring  him  Regent 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  in  as  full,  ample,  and  unquali- 
fied a  manner  as  was  enjoyed  by  his  Royal  Father. 

The  words,  thougn  simple,  were  as  comprehensive  as 
the  English  language  could  make  them.  The  terms  are : 
"  Under  the  style  and  title  of  Prince  Regent  of  Ireland, 
in  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  his  Majesty,  to  exercise  and 
administer,  according  to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  this 
Kingdom,  all  regal  powers,  jurisdiction,  and  prerogatives 
to  the  Crown  and  Government  thereof  belonging." 

In  the  Commons,  the  Address  was  moved  hy  Mr. 
Grattan,  and  was  carried  without   a   division.     It  was 

*  That  Round  Robin  was  so  decisive,  that  it  was  brought  forward  ii 
1800,  as  the  most  powerful  argument  in  favour  of  a  1  nion 


322  RISE    AND    PALL 

moved  in  the  Lords  by  the  Earl  of  Charlemont,  and  wa« 
carried  by  a  majority  of  only  19.  Contents  45 — Non- 
contents  26. 

In  the  Commons,  the  number  upon  Mr.  Grattan's  Mo- 
tion, for  thus  transmitting  the  Address  were — for  the 
Motion,  130 :  against  it,  74. 

The  Address  having  passed  both  the  Lords  and  Com- 
mons, it  was  sent  to  the  Viceroy  to  be  transmitted  to  His 
Royal  Highness.  The  Marquis  of  Buckingham  peremp- 
torily refused  acquiescence,  and  an  embassy  of  two  Lords 
and  four  Commoners,*  was  immediately  appointed  to  hum- 
bly present  the  Address,  in  the  name  of  the  nation,  to  the 
Prince.  A  severe  resolution  of  censure  was  then  moved 
against  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  for  a  breach  of  official  duty. 
It  passed  both  Houses,  and  obliged  him  to  quit  the  coun- 
try. Though  his  extensive  patronage  was  craftily  applied 
and  had  procured  him  many  adherents,  he  never  after- 
wards could  make  any  head  in  the  Irish  Parliament. 
The  Address  was  the  boldest  step  yet  taken  by  the  Irish 
nation,  and  it  brought  the  independence  of  Ireland  to  a 
practical  issue. 

III.  The  vital  importance  of  the  Regency  Questic^ 
in  consolidating  the  independence  of  the  Irish  Nation^ 
and  the  fallacious  influence  which  it  afterwards  afforded 
to  the  arguments  for  extinguishing  that  independence, 
offer  considerations  more  grave  and  more  comprehensive 
than  any  that  have  occurred  since  England,  by  the  Re- 
nunciation Act,  admitted  her  usurpation. 

The  facts  and  reasoning  on  that  subject  are  beyond  the 
range  of  this  volume — they  are  therefore  here  necessarily 
epitomised.  However  somewhat  more  than  superficial 
detail  is  indispensable,  to  dispel  that  mist  of  mingled  pre- 
judice and  ignorance  of  the  English  people,  which  has 
never  ceased  to  obscure  from  their  view  every  clear  pros- 
pect of  the  true  state  of  Ireland,  when  she  evinced  her 
unqualified  adherence  to  the  genuine  spirit  of  the  consti- 
tution. 

In  1789  two  branches  of  the  legislature,  the  Peers  and 
the  Commons  of  Great  Britain  and  of  Ireland,  were  by 
common  law  originally,  and  by  statute  law,  subsequently, 

•  The  Lords  were,  the  Duke  of  Leinster  and  Lord  Charlemont.  Thf 
Caramons  Meosrs.  Connolly,  J.  >NeiU  W.  B.  Ponsonby,  and  J.  Stewaxi 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  323 

us  distinct  as  those  of  any  other  independent  nation. 
The  third  estate,  the  king,  was  common  Monarch  of 
both ;  the  two  crowns  placed  on  the  same  brow  were,  by 
the  common  constitution  t  entailed  for  ever  on  the  samo 
dynasty  :  the  executive  power  was  united ;  the  other 
branches  utterly  separate. 

IV.  The  King  of  both  countries  having  become  incapa- 
ble of  executing  his  functions  for  either — his  eldest  son 
and  heir  apparent  to  the  t  irone,  in  the  full  vigour  of 
health  and  intellect,  by  the  ii.  capacity  of  his  father,  became 
the  proper  guardian  of  thos^  two  realms  to  the  throne  of 
which  he  was  constitutionally  to  succeed. 

So  circumstanced,  the  British  minister  who  as  such  had 
no  constitutional  right  to  interfere  with  Ireland,  thought 
proper,  through  the  British  Parliament,  to  shackle  the 
Regency  with  restrictions,  that  deprived  the  executive 
Dower  in  England  of  its  constitutional  prerogatives  ;  such 
a  measure,  if  adopted  by  Ireland,  would  have  left  hei 
king  incompetent,  and  her  Regency  imperfect,  during 
the  necessary  suspension  of  the  monarch's  capacity  to 
govern. 

The  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  under  the  dictation  of  the  Bri- 
tish minister,  resisted  the  legislature  of  Ireland  in  its  own 
course  of  appointing  the  same  Regent ;  and  a  collision 
ensued :  the  Irish  supporting,  and  the  English  curtailing, 
the  constitutional  prerogative  of  the  executive  branch  of 
the  constitution,  in  the  office  of  Regent. 

V.  In  this  state  of  things,  the  session  was  opened  on 
the  5th  February  by  the  Marquis  of  Buckingham,  who,  in 
his  speech  from  the  throne,  informed  the  two  houses  of 
the  severe  indisposition  with  which  the  King  was  afflicted, 
and  at  the  same  time,  acquainted  them  that  he  had 
directed  all  the  documents  respecting  his  Majesty's  health 
which  could  assist  their  deliberations  to  be  laid  before 
them. 

Mr.  Fitzherbert,  the  secretary,  then  moved  the  house, 
that  it  should  resol  /e  itself  into  a  committee  on  the  Mon- 
day sen'night,  to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  his 
Majesty's  health. 

As  the  evident  design  of  this  delay  was  to  prevent  the 
Irish  Parliament  from  coming  to  any  resolutions  relative 
lo  a  Regency  before  the  determinations  of  the  Britith 


824  RISE    AND    PALL 

Parliament  could  be  proposed  to  them  for  their  concur- 
rence, it  was  opposed  as  derogatory  to  the  independence 
of  that  Kingdom,  and  to  the  dignity  and  credit  of  its 
Parliament.  Mr,  Grattan  therefore  proposed  that — "the 
House  should  meet  on  the  next  Wednesday."  His  amend- 
ment, after  a  long  and  warm  debate,  was  carried  by  a 
majority  of  128  to  74.  A  motion  made  by  the  Chancel- 
lor of  the  Exchequer  for  proceeding  immediately  upon  the 
business  of  supply,  was  negatived. 

VI.  On  Wednesday  the  11th,  Mr.  Connolly  moved, 
that  "  an  address  should  be  presented  to  the  Prince  of 
Wales,  requesting  him  to  take  on  himself  the  Government 
of  Ireland,  as  Regent  thereof  during  his  Majesty's  inca- 
pacity," (without  any  restriction.) 

This  motion  gave  rise  to  a  long  and  violent  debate,  in 
which  the  Attorney  General,  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  (afterwards 
Chancellor  of  Ireland)  eminently  distinguished  himself  in 
opposition  to  the  motion.  It  was  supported  by  Mr. 
Grattan,  Mr.  Ponsonby,  Mr.  Curran,  and  other  eminent 
speakers,  and  was  ultimately  carried  without  a  division. 

On  Monday  the  16th,  the  House  of  Lords  being  met, 
the  Earl  of  Charlemont  moved  for  an  address  to  the 
Prince  of  Wales  similar  to  that  voted  by  the  Commons, 
which,  after  some  debate,  was  carried  by  a  majority  of 
nineteen.  A  protest  was  entered  signed  by  seventeen 
Lords. 

On  Thursday  the  19th,  both  houses  waited  upon  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  with  their  address,  and  requested  him 
to  transmit  the  same,  with  this  request  his  Excellency 
refused  to  comply,  returning  for  answer  that  under  the 
impressions  he  felt  of  his  official  duty  and  of  the  oath  he 
had  taken,  he  did  not  consider  himself  warranted  to  lay 
before  the  Prince  an  address,  purporting  to  invest  his 
Royal  Highness  with  powers  to  take  upon  him  the  Gov 
ernment  of  the  realm,  before  he  should  be  enabled  by 
law  so  to  do ;  and  therefore  he  declined  transmitting  their 
address  to  Great  Britain. 

Upon  the  return  of  the  Commons  to  their  own  House, 
and  the  answer  of  the  Lord  Lieutenant  being  reported  to 
them,  Mr.  Grattan  observed,  that  in  a  case  so  extremely 
new  it  would  be  highly  improper  to  proceed  with  hurry 
or  precipitation  ;  the  House  was  called  upon  to  act  witfc 


OF    THE    IRISH     NATION.  325 

dignity,  firmness  and  decision;  and  therefore  that  due 
time  might  be  had  for  deliberation,  he  would  move  the 
question  of  adjournment  to  the  following  day.  The 
question  was  put  and  carried  without  opp  >sition. 

VII.  On  the  next  day  he  moved,  That  his  Excellency 
the  Lord  Lieutenant,  having  thought  proper  to  decline  to 
transmit  to  his  Royal  Highness  George,  Prince  of  Wales, 
the  address  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  a  competent 
number  of  members  be  appointed  to  present  the  said  ad- 
dress to  his  Royal  Highness. 

Mr.  Grattan's  motion  was  passed  without  any  division, 
whereupon  he  moved,  "That  Mr.  Connolly  do  attend  the 
Lords  with  the  said  resolution,  and  acquaint  them  that 
this  House  requests  them  to  appoint  members  of  their 
own  body  to  join  with  the  members  of  the  Commons  in 
presenting  the  said  address."  This  also  passed  without 
any  division,  and  Mr.  Connolly  went  up  to  the  Lords 
accordingly.  The  message  received  in  reply  was,  that 
the  IiOrds  had  concurred  in  the  resolution  of  the  Com- 
mons, and  had  appointed  his  Grace  the  Duke  of  Leinster, 
and  the  Earl  of  Charlemont,  to  join  with  such  members 
as  the  Commons  should  appoint  to  present  the  address  of 
both  Houses  to  his  Royal  Highness,  the  Prince  of  Wales. 

Mr.  Grattan  then  moved  that  the  Right  Hon.  Thomas 
Connolly,  Right  Hon.  J.  O'Neil,  Right  Hon.  W.  Ponson- 
by,  and  J.  Stewart,  Esq.  should  be  appointed  commis- 
sioners on  the  part  of  the  Commons,  for  the  purpose  of 
presenting  the  Address  to  his  Royal  Highness,  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  and  they  were  appointed  accordingly. 

These  motions  having  passed,  Mr.  Grattan  then  moved, 
that  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  had  discharged  an  in- 
dispensable duty  in  providing  for  the  third  estate  of  the 
Irish  Constitution  (rendered  incomplete  through  the 
King's  incapacity)  by  appointing  the  Prince  of  Wales, 
Regent  uf  Ireland.  This  motion  was  carried  after  a  long 
debate     Ayes  150,  Noes  71. 

Mr.  Grattan  then  moved  that  it  is  the  opinion  of  this 
H  xaSj  "  That  the  answer  of  his  Excellency  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  to  both  Houses,  in  refusing  to  transmit  tLe 
said  address,  is  ill  advised,  and  tends  to  convey  an  un- 
warrantable and  unconstitutional  censure  o?i  the  con 
dvct  of  both  Houses/7 

28 


126  FI»E    AND    FALL 

Mr.  Grattan's  m  >tion  of  censure  was  then  put,  on  which 
the  House  divided,  and  there  appeared  lot  the  motion  115 
against  it  83. 

On  the  25th,  resolutions  of  the  committee  of  supply 
(which  provides  for  the  payment  of  the  interest  of  the 
national  debt,  the  annuities  and  establishments,)  beinp 
read,  Mr.  Grattan  moved  "  That  the  words  for  twc 
months,  only  ending  the  26th  of  May,  1789,  be  added/' 
On  the  question  being  put,  there  appeared.  Ayes  104 
Noes  85. 

Mr.  Grattan  then  moved  that  the  army  be  provided  foi 
to  the  25th  of  May  only,  which  motion  was  earned. 
Ayes  102,  Noes  77. 

VIII.  This  determination  of  the  Irish  legislature  in 
asserting  their  constitutional  independence,  and  their  en- 
tire rejection  of  all  subserviency  to  the  views  or  dictates 
of  the  British  Parliament,  was  founded  not  only  on  the 
nature  of  their  federative  compact,  but  on  the  very  prin- 
ciples of  that  constitution  which  it  was  their  mutual  duty 
to  preserve  in  its  full  integrity. 

By  that  constitution  it  was  indispensable  that  every 
statute  should  receive  its  consummation  only  by  the  ex- 
press assent  of  the  King,  as  the  third  estate  of  that  con- 
stitution. 

In  this  case  no  third  estate  existed  in  a  capacity  to  as- 
sent to  or  consummate  any  statute,  and  no  express  pro- 
vision had  been  made  by  the  constitution  for  such  an 
emergency.  The  Irish  legislature  therefore,  having  no 
competent  third  estate  to  consummate  a  statute,  adopted 
the  next  step  admitted  by  the  Constitution,  of  proceeding 
by  address,  for  which  they  had  the  English  precedent  of 
1688. 

The  British  Minister  however,  determined  to  proceed 
by  statute,  and  this  difference  therefore  arose  between 
the  two  legislatures,  England  proceeded  by  means  which 
could  not  be  constitutionally  consummated,  Ireland  pro- 
ceeded by  means  which  constitutionally  could.  The 
Viceroy  surrendered  himself  to  the  minister ;  the  Irish 
legislature  adhered  to  the  Prince,  and  asserted  their  in- 
dependence by  an  overt  act,  which  England  never  since 
forgave  ;  an  \  on  the  Union,  used  that  act  of  Irish  con* 
stitutionality  is  a    argument  for  annihilating  that  legis* 


Or   THE    IRISH    NATION.  327 

ature.  which  had  dared  to  support   the   rights  o:     heii 
Prince  against  the  ambition  of  his  Minister. 

IX.  International  controversies  are  frequently  referred 
to  the  arbitration  of  foreign  states,  disinterested  on  the 
subject,  and  had  the  question  been  submitted  to  such  an 
arbitrator,  "  Whether  the  British  legislature  abetting  the 
conspiracy  of  Mr.  Pitt,  to  abridge  the  executive  power  of 
its  inherent  rights,  or  that  of  Ireland  supporting  the  royal 
prerogatives  of  their  common  Regent,  and  had  committed 
a  crime,  should  be  extinguished  for  its  inroad  on  the  con- 
stitution," the  awful  sentence  must  have  been  pronounced 
against  Great  Britain  ;  and  even  the  dignified  language 
of  the  Prince  himself,  evinced  nothing  adverse  to  the 
principle  of  so  just  a  condemnation.* 

Previous  to  the  departure  of  the  Delegates  to  present 
the  address  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  a  declaration  by  the 
Viceroy  had  been  made  public,  which  threatened  to  visit 
with  his  displeasure,  or  reward  by  his  favours,  every 
member  of  the  legislature  who  could  either  be  deprived 
of  office  for  his  resistance,  or  induced  to  accept  one  foi 
his  desertion. 

This  declaration  gave  rise  to  the  then  celebrated  Round 
Robin,  which  was  subscribed  by  a  great  number  of  the 
highest  and  most  leading  characters  of  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  pledging  themselves  as  a  body  and  as  indi- 
viduals, against  every  attempt  by  Government  either  to 
seduce  or  to  intimidate  them.  This  was  a  fatal  blow  to 
all  further  struggles  of  the  Viceroy.  The  tide  ran  too 
strongly  to  be  resisted  ;  the  rank  and  influence  of  those 
who  signed  that  document  could  no  longer  be  opposed, 
and  proved  to  the  Viceroy  the  impossibility  of  his  con- 
tinuing the  Government  of  Ireland,  upon  such  a  princi- 
ple, and  of  course  he  determined  to  retire  from  the  Vice- 
royalty. 

X.  The  Delegates  now  proceeded  to  London  to  deliver 
to  the  Prince  the  joint  address  of  both  House.*  of  the  Irish 
Parliament.  The  first  nobles  and  commoners  of  that 
kingdom  investing  him  with  all  those  royal  rights  and 
prerogatives  which  had  been  refused  to  him  by  his  Bri- 
tish subjects,  was  too  grand  and  gratifying  an  embassy 
tot  to  receive  the  highest  honours  and  attention  his  Roya' 

•  See  his  letter  10  Mr  Pin,  and  his  rejjliu*  to  the  addresses 


J28  rise  and  fall 

Highness  and  his  friends  could  bestow.  Nothing  could 
exceed  the  dignified  cordiality  and  splendour  with  which 
they  were  received  by  the  Regent  on  that  occasion.  He 
felt  all  the  importance  of  such  a  grant,  and  if  gratitude 
has  any  permanent  station  in  the  hearts  of  monarchs, 
the  Irish  people  had  reason  to  expect  every  favour  that 
tuture  power  could  confer,  on  a  nation  whose  firmness 
and  fidelity  had  given  him  so  imperishable  a  proof  of 
their  attachment. 

The  words  of  the  address  bespeak  the  independence 
and  loyalty  of  the  Irish  legislature,  and  fix  the  constitu- 
tional limitation  to  the  power  conferred  by  them  ;  they 
prayed  : — 

"  We,  his  Majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loya1  subjects,  the 
lords  spiritual  and  temporal  and  the  Comr  ^s  *  Ireland 
in  Parliament  assembled,  beg  leave  t*  pproach  your 
Royal  Highness  with  hearts  full  of  the  aost  loyal  and 
affectionate  attachment  to  the  person  ar.<4  government  of 
your  Royal  Father,  to  express  the  deepest  and  most 
grateful  sense  of  the  numerous  blessings  which  we  have 
enjoyed  under  his  illustrious  House,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  condole  with  your  Royal  Highness  upon  the  grievous 
malady  with  which  it  has  pleased  Heaven  to  afflict  the 
best  of  sovereigns. 

"We  beg  leave  humbly  to  request  that  your  Royal 
Highness  will  be  pleased  to  take  upon  you  the  govern- 
ment of  this  realm,  during  the  continuance  of  his  Majes- 
ty's present  indisposition,  and  no  longer ;  and  under  the 
style  and  title  of  Prince  Regent  of  Ireland,  in  the  name 
and  on  behalf  of  his  Majesty,  to  exercise  and  administer, 
according  to  the  laws  and  constitution  of  this  kingdom, 
all  regal  powers,  jurisdictions,  and  prerogatives  to  the 
crown  and  government  thereof  belonging." 

XI.  The  reply  of  his  Royal  Highness  to  this  embassy 
from  Ireland,  is  a  document  of  most  intrinsic  value  to  the 
character,  and  ought  to  have  been  so  to  the  interests  of 
that  calumniated  and  ruined  island. 

That  royal  document  expressly  upheld  and  for  ever 
records  the  loyal,  consistent,  and  constitutional  principles; 
and  conduct  which  guided  the  Irish  legislature:  in  that 
unprecedented  proceeding,  therein,  not  only  explicitly 
but  most  ardently  eulogised  by  the  heir  apparent. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  329 

Yet  it  is  unfortunate  for  the  character  and  cons  jstency 
of  British  Governments,  to  find  seated  high  in  the  cabinet 
of  George  the  Fourth,  the  very  minister  who,  in  the  Irish 
Parliament,  in  1799,  gave  the  retort  courteous  to  every 
word  so  uttered  by  that  monarch,  as  Regent  in  1789,  and 
stigmatized  as  treason  that  just  eulogium  uttered  but  ten 
years  before  upon  their  loyalty. 

Posterity,  however,  will  read  with  disgust  that,  within 
so  short  a  period,  the  very  act  which  elicited  those  just 
and  florid  praises  of  devoted  Ireland,  was  converted  into 
a  libel,  and  made  a  leading  argument  to  effect  the 
annihilation  of  the  very  legislature  they  had  so  ardently 
applauded. 

It  is  a  remarkable  coincidence  in  Irish  annals,  that 
Providence  was  pleased  to  diminish  her  visitation  on  the 
King's  capacity  on  the  very  day  first  appointed  by  the 
Prince  to  receive  his  investiture  as  Regent  of  Ireland, 
through  the  hands  of  the  Irish  Delegates ;  the  object  ol 
this  mission  therefore  could  have  no  ulterior  operation, 
and  they  returned  to  their  country  with  every  public 
honour  and  piivate  estimation  which  their  embassy  and 
their  characters  so  justly  merited.  The  Prince  therefore 
had  no  power  previous  to  the  Union  of  exemplifying  his 
declaration  of  gratitude  to  Ireland.  After  the  Union, 
when  Imperial  Regent,  his  British  ministers  showed  ne 
disposition  to  give  his  Royal  Highness  that  power  or 
opportunity ;  his  energies  seemed  to  retire  as  his  powers 
were  advancing,  and  when  he  became  actual  monarch 
of  both  countries,  events  proved  that  the  Regencies  wer» 
forgotten,  and  that  gratitude  was  not  a  record. 


330  RISE    AND    FALL 


CHATTEP    XXII. 

Ireland  acted  on  her  independence — Prosperous  state  of  Ireland  at  thai 
Period — The  Rise  of  the  Irish  Nation  consummated  by  the  withdrawal 
of  the  Viceroy — Particularly  important  observation — Lord  Westmore- 
land— Major  Hobart — His  character — State  of  Ireland  on  his  accession 
to  office — Concessions  by  Government — Delusion  and  negligence  of  the 
Opposition — Catholic  emancipation  commenced — Arguments  of  the 
Catholics — Catholic  petition  rejected  by  a  great  majority — Deep  de- 
signs of  Mr.  Pitt — Mr.  Pitt  proceeds  with  his  measures  to  promote  a 
union — Lord  Fitzwilliam  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant — His  character — 
Deceived  and  calumniated  by  Mr.  Pitt — Great  popularity  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant — Earl  Fitzwilliam  recalled — Fatal  consequences — Ireland 
given  up  to  Lord  Clare,  and  insurrection  excited — Lord  Camden — Uni- 
ted Irishmen — Unprecedented  Organization — Lord  Camden's  character 
— Despotic  conduct  of  Lord  Clare —Earl  Carhampton  commander-in- 
chief — Disobeys  Lord  Camden — Again  disobeys — The  King's  sign- 
manuel  commands  him  to  obey — 1  Ie  resigns. 

I.  Upon  the  return  of  the  Delegates  to  Ireland,  the  first 
epocha  which  gives  a  title  to  this  epitome  of  her  history 
was  consummated ;  her  Rise.  She  had  arisen  from  ser- 
vitude to  freedom,  from  a  subservient  to  an  independent 
Nation  ;  the  acquirement  of  that  independence  was  a 
revolution,  but  it  was  a  revolution  without  bloodshed.  It 
was  rather  a  regeneration,  accomplished  by  the  almost 
unanimous  exertion  of  all  the  rank,  the  wealth,  the  cha- 
racter and  the  honesty  of  a  vast  population ;  the  highest 
of  the  Aristocracy,  and  the  humblest  of  the  people  joined 
hand  in  hand  to  regain  their  independence ;  and  it  may 
well  be  termed  a  loyal  revolution,  because  the  English 
legislature,  by  their  own  voluntary  act,  admitted  theii 
own  previous  usurpation,  and  denounced  all  further  pre- 
tensions to  dominate  over  Ireland ;  and  the  King  of  Gieal 
Britain  on  his  throne,  received  and  acknowledged  his  Irish 
subjects  altogether  legislatively  unconnected  with  the  rest 
of  England.  From  that  day  Ireland  rose  in  wealth,  in 
trade,  and  in  manufactures,  agriculture,  and  every  branch 
of  industry  that  could  enhance  her  value  or  render  a 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION  331 

people  rich  and  prosperous.  She  had  acquired  her  seat 
amongst  the  nations  of  the  world,  she  had  asserted  her 
independence  against  the  insolence  of  Portugal,  she  had 
suggested  an  Irish  navy  to  protect  her  shores,  site  had 
declared  a  perpetual  league  of  mutual  amity  and  aid  with 
Great  Britain.  The  court  of  her  Viceroy  appeared  as 
splendid  as  her  monarch's.  Her  nobles  resided  and 
expended  their  great  fortunes  amongst  the  Irish  people, 
the  Commons  all  resided  on  their  own  demesnes,  supported 
and  fostered  a  laborious  and  tranquil  tenantry.  The 
peace  of  the  country  was  perfect,  no  standing  army,  no 
militia,  no  police  were  wanting  for  its  preservation  ;  the 
activity  of  the  Volunteers  had  suppressed  crime  in  every 
district,  religious  prejudices  were  gradually  diminishing ; 
every  means  of  amelioration  were  in  contemplation  or  in 
progress.  The  distinctness  of  Ireland  had  been  proclaimed 
to  the  world  by  overt  acts  of  herself,  and  of  her  monarch 
and  the  King  of  England.  The  Irish  sceptre  in  the  hands 
of  her  King  had  touched  the  charter  of  her  independence, 
on  the  faith  of  nations,  before  God  and  man  its  eternal 
freedom  had  been  declared,  and  should  have  been  in- 
violable. But  by  some  inscrutable  will  of  heaven,  it  was 
decreed  that  she  should  soon  be  again  erased  from  the  list 
of  nations,  punished  without  a  crime,  and  laid  prostrate  at 
the  feet  of  a  jealous  ally. 

II.  The  spirit  and  independence  of  the  conjoint  Peers 
and  Commons  of  Ireland,  and  their  reception  by  the  heir 
apparent,  convinced  the  Viceroy  of  the  impossibility  of 
his  retaining  office ;  his  declaration  of  departure  being 
again  repeated,  was  greeted  in  Dublin  as  a  measure  of 
the  highest  gratification  to  the  Whigs  and  Patriots,  and 
of  the  deepest  regret  to  the  adherents  of  the  minister. 

However,  though  the  recovery  of  the  King  rendered  the 
appointment  of  their  Regent,  at  the  time,  unnecessary,  it 
sufficiently  asserted  their  constitutional  and  national  in- 
dependence, and  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  consum- 
mated that  epoch  which  is  termed  the  Rise  of  Ireland. 

One  observation  is  here  not  out  of  place,  and  it  is  rather 
a  remarkable  occurrence,  that  it  was  during  the  short 
interval  which  occurred  between  the  first  and  second 
announcement  of  the  entire  incapacity  of  King  George 
the  lliird,  that  he  was  induced  by  the  same  ministers  who 


332  RISE    AND    FALL 

had  resisted  the  iegent,  to  forego  his  own  Royal  acta 
rescind  his  own  constitutional  assest — melt  down  his  Irish 
Crown,  and  place  his  Irish  subjects  under  the  guardianship 
of  a  mutilated  and  absent  representation.  It  is  therefore 
not  easy  to  reconcile  to  ordinary  reason  the  probability 
that  a  conscientious  and  moral  monarch,  during  the  in 
terval  of  a  disease  so  deep-seated  and  enfeebling  to  the 
human  intellect,  could  calmly  or  judicially  reflect  on  a 
measure  so  comprehensive  in  its  results,  and  so  corrupt 
in  its  attainment,  as  the  legislative  Union. 

It  was  under  all  t'hese  circumstances,  and  the  departure 
of  the  Viceroy,  that  the  Earl  of  Westmoreland  came  over 
as  his  successor.  But  the  line  of  his  politics  or  govern- 
ment had  not  preceded  him. 

III.  Mr.  Pitt  felt  that  he  had  made  but  slight  progress 
towards  his  scheme  of  a  union  with  Ireland  ;  his  projects 
had  turned  against  himself ;  and  the  Irish  Parliament,  on 
the  subject  of  the  Regency,  had  taught  him  a  lesson  he 
had  but  little  expectation  of  learning.  However,  the 
spirit  of  the  Irish  confirmed  that  austere  and  pertinacious 
statesman  in  his  resolution  to  rule  Ireland  in  Great  Britain, 
and  to  leave  her  no  power  to  impede  the  course  of  his 
ambition. 

The  Earl  of  Westmoreland  was  by  no  means  ill  adapted 
to  the  Irish  people.  He  was  sufficiently  reserved  to  con* 
mand  respect,  and  dignified  enough  to  uphold  his  station. 
His  splendid  conviviality  procured  him  many  rational 
partisans,  and  his  extreme  hospitality  engendered  at  least 
temporary  friendships.  He  was  honourable  and  good 
natured,  and,  among  the  higher  orders  and  his  intimaU 
associates,  he  was  a  popular  Viceroy. 

His  Secretary,  Major  Hobart  (Lord  Buckinghamshire), 
was  more  a  man  of  the  world,  and  was  admirably  cal- 
culated for  the  higher  classes  of  the  Irish. 

A  perfect  gentleman,  cheerful,  convivial,  and  con- 
ciliating, though  decided ;  liberal,  yet  crafty ;  kind- 
hearted,  but  cautious ;  and  with  a  mixture  of  pride  and 
affability  in  his  manner,  he  particularly  adapted  himself 
to  his  official  purposes  by  occasionally  altering  the  pro- 
portion of  each,  as  persons  or  circumstances  required 
their  application.  With  an  open,  prepossessing,  counte- 
aance  he  gained  wonderfully  upon  every  gentleman  will- 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  333 

whom  he  associated.*  The  period  of  Lord  Westmore- 
land's government  was  certainly  the  summit  of  Irish 
prosperity.  From  the  epoch  of  his  departure  she  may 
date  the  commencement  of  her  downfall.  Lord  West- 
moreland's was  charged  with  being  a  jobbing  Government, 
but  it  was  less  so  than  that  of  any  of  his  predecessors ; 
and  if  he  did  not  diminish,  he  certainly  did  not  aggravate 
the  burthens  of  the  people. 

IV.  When  Lord  Westmoreland  arrived,  Ireland  was  in 
a  state  of  great  prosperity.  He  met  a  strong  opposition 
in  Parliament/but  it  was  an  honest  opposition,  the  guardian 
of  public  liberty,  and  not  a  faction.  It  was  constitutional 
in  principle,  and  formidable  in  talent ;  it  was  rather  a 
party  to  effect  wholesome  measures,  than  a  systematic 
opposition  to  the  Government.  Only  two  subjects  of 
vital  importance  were  introduced  during  his  adminis- 
tration; most  of  the  others  being  plausible  demands, 
calculated  rather  to  gratify  the  people  than  to  produce 
any  radical  change  in  the  system  of  the  Government.  A 
P^e  Bill,  a  Pension  Bill,  and  a  Responsibility  Bill,  an 
mqtiiry  into  the  sale  of  Peerages,  and  into  the  Police  of 
Dublin,  were  amongst  the  most  material  measures  pressed 
by  the  opposition  during  his  viceroyalty.  The  Place  Bill, 
however,  supposed  to  be  remedial,  eventually  became  the 
most  important  that  had  ever  been  passed  by  an  indepen- 
dent Irish  Parliament. 

The  perseverance  of  the  able  men  who  formed  the 
opposition,  at  length  gave  a  pretence  to  the  Minister  to 
purchase  an  armistice,  by  conceding  some  of  the  measures 
they  had  so  long  and  pertinaciously  resisted. 

It  could  not  have  been  flattering  however,  to  the  warm 
supporters  of  Government,  to  be  required  by  the  Secretary 

*  The  Beard  of  Green  Cloth  (the  Lord  Lieutenant's  second  table), 
never  was  supported  with  more  splendour  than  during  Lord  Westmore- 
land's Government.  It  was,  at  least,  as  good  as  his  own,  the  class  of  so* 
eiety  the  same,  the  conviviality  superior.  Economy  had  not  crept  into 
that  department,  and  every  shilling  that  was  granted  to  that  establish- 
ment was  expended  upon  it. 

Major  Hobart  saved  nothing  in  Ireland ;  he  expended  in  the  metro- 
polis all  he  received;  and  the  entire  of  the  grants,  then  made  by  the  Irish 
Parliament  to  support  the  Vice-regal  establishment,  was  actually  laid  out 
on  it,  and  the  citizens  of  DubJ'n,  in  fact,  reaped  the  profits  of  theii  tux* 


134  RISE    AND    FALL 

to  become  absolutely  inconsistent,  and  to  change  then 
language  without  a  change  of  circumstances,  and  recant 
opinions  they  had  so  frequently  declared  in  conjunction 
with  the  minister. 

Some  of  the  most  active  supporters  of  Government, 
therefore,  determined  not  to  interfere  in  these  concessions, 
and  the  opposition,  on  the  other  hand,  was  so  keen  at  the 
chase,  and  so  gratified  at  the  concession  of  their  long- 
sought  measures,  that  they  but  superficially  regarded  the 
details  or  the  mode  of  conceding,  and  never  reflected,  as 
legislators  or  as  statesmen,  that  one  of  those  measures 
might  prove  a  deadly  weapon,  by  which  the  executive 
Government  might  destroy  the  Parliament  under  pretence 
of  purifying  it.  A  Bill  was  brought  in  to  vacate  the  seats 
of  members  accepting  offices  under  Government,  omitting 
the  term  of  bona  fide  offices ;  thereby  leaving  the  minister 
a  power  of  packing  the  Parliament. 

The  opposition,  blinded  by  their  honest  zeal,  considered 
this  ruinous  Bill  a  species  of  reform,  and  were  astonished 
at  the  concession  of  a  measure  at  once  so  popular,  and 
which  they  conceived  to  be  so  destructive  of  ministerial 
corruption. 

The  sagacity  of  Mr.  Pitt,  however,  clearly  showed  him, 
that  measure  would  put  the  Irish  Parliament  eventually 
into  his  hands ;  and  the  sequel  proved,  that,  without  that 
Bill,  worded  as  it  was,  the  corruption  by  the  Minister.?, 
the  rebellion,  force  and  terror  combined,  could  not  have 
effected  the  Union. 

The  Place,  Pension,  and  Responsibility  Bills,  were  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Grattan,  acceded  to  by  the  Viceroy,  passed 
into  laws,  and  considered  as  a  triumph  of  the  opposition 
over  the  venality  of  the  Government.* 

Mr.  Grattan  was  certainly  the  most  incorruptible  public 
character  on  the  records  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  He 
worshipped  popularity,  yet  there  was  a  tinge  of  aristocracy 
in  his  devotion,  which  whilst  it  qualified  its  enthusiasm, 
still  added  to  its  purity. 

*  The  Author  was  requested  by  Government  to  give  his  assent,  in  the 
House,  to  the  Place  Bill ;  but  he  had,  at  their  original  request,  as  well 
«s  on  his  own  opinion,  for  some  years  opposed  it;  he  therefore  positively 
refused,  and  stood  nearly  alone  in  his  opposition.  Mr.  Newenham  and 
Sir  John  M'Cartney  oniy  supported  him      He  foresaw  its  possible  Qjtt 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  335 

Such  men  may  occasionally  err  in  judgment,  or  may  be 
misled  by  their  ardour;  and  this  was  the  case  with  Mr. 
Grattan,  on  this  armistice  with  the  Government. 

Mr.  Grattan  did  not  always  foresee  the  remote  operation 
of  his  projects. 

He  was  little  adapted  to  labour  on  the  details  of  mea- 
sures ;  he  had  laid  the  broad  foundation  of  the  constitu- 
tion, but  sometimes  regarded  lightly  the  out-buildings 
that  were  occasionally  attached  to  it.  On  this  occasion, 
the  Ministers  were  too  subtle  for  him,  and  he  heeded  not 
that  fatal  clause  which  made  no  distinction  between  real 
and  nominal  offices.  He  considered  not,  that  though 
offices  of  real  emolument  could  not  be  so  frequently 
vacated  and  transferred,  as  to  give  the  Minister  any  very 
important  advantage,  those  of  nominal  value  might  be 
daily  given  and  resigned,  without  observation,  and  that, 
as  the  House  was  then  constituted,  the  Minister  might 
almost  form  the  Commons  at  his  pleasure.* 

By  comparing  the  Irish  Parliament  at  the  epochs  of 
the  Proposition  and  the  Regency  Bills,  and  at  that  of 
1800.  the  fatal  operation  of  the  Place  Bill  can  be  no  lon- 
ger questionable.     In  one  word — it  carried  the  Union.t 

V.  During  the  administration  of  Lord  Westmoreland, 
the  first  question  (which  so  deeply  affected  the  subsequent 
events  of  Ireland)  was  the  partial  emancipation  of  the 
Irish  Catholics.  Though  the  question  did  not,  when  in 
troduced,  appear  to  involve  the  consideration  of  a  legis 
lative  union,  its  results  communicated  a  powerful  influ 
ence  to  that  measure. 

The  national  annihilation  of  Ireland  was,  in  a  consi- 
derable degree  promoted  by  the  impolitic  mismanagement 
of  the  Catholic  population. 

Though  many  of  the  penal  and  restrictive  statutes,  by 

*  There  are  four  nominal  offices  in  Ireland — the  Escheatorships  of 
Leinster,  Munster,  Connaught,  and  Ulster,  which  are  obsolete:  theii 
emoluments  are  30s  per  annum.  By  means  of  these  offices,  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh  packed  the  parliament  in  1 800. 

1  he  Chiltern  Hundreds  in  England  are  of  the  same  nature ;  but  the 
large  number  of  the  British  Commons  renders  any  thing  like  packing 
Parliament  for  occasional  purposes,  by  that  means,  impossible.  Not 
durst,  a  British  minister  practice  that  artifice,  except  to  a  very  limited 
extent 

i  See  hereafter  Mr  Crow's  Letter  to  Lord  Belvidere. 


S36  RISE    AND    FALL 

which  the  Catholics  had  been  so  long  excluded  from  al. 
the  most  valuable  rights,  not  only  of  British  subjects,  but 
of  freemen,  were  repealed;  and  though  the  power  of 
taking  freeholds,  and  possessing  landed  property,  was 
restored  to  them,  these  concessions  were  but  a  stimulus 
to  further  claims,  and  for  which  they  created  a  most 
rational  expectation. 

The  Catholics  argued,  that  if  they  were  allowed  to 
purchase  freeholds,  and  to  receive,  by  descent,  lands  in 
fee,  it  must  consequently  be  an  injustice,  an  absurdity, 
and  an  insult,  to  debar  them  from  the  plective  franchise, 
and  the  privileges  which  were  by  law  attached  to  the 
possession  of  the  same  species  of  property  by  their  Pro- 
testant fellow-subjects. 

They  said,  that  noblemen  and  commoners  of  great  for- 
tune, of  their  persuasion,  who  had  been  deprived  of  their 
rights  by  their  attachment  to  hereditary  monarchy,  not- 
withstanding those  partial  concessions,  still  remained 
loaded  with  many  attributes  of  actual  slavery,  in  the 
midst  of  a  free  people  ;  that  after  a  century  of  loyal  and 
peaceable  demeanour  towards  a  Protestant  dynasty,  they 
were  still  to  be  stigmatized  as  neither  trustworthy  nor 
loyal.  Their  language,  firm  and  decided,  was  rational, 
and  eventually  successful.  Government  were  now  alarm- 
ed, and  affected  to  take  a  liberal  view  of  the  subject ;  but 
were  by  no  means  unanimous  as  to  the  extent  of  the 
concessions.  They  conceived  that  tranquillity  might  be 
attained  by  mere  religious  toleration.  This  may  be  true, 
where  but  a  small  portion  of  the  people  are  claimants : 
far  different,  however,  where  those  excluded  form  the 
bulk,  and  the  exclusionists  a  small  minority  of  the  people. 
However,  the  concessions  were  important,  and  greater 
than  could  have  been  credible  before  Lord  Westmore- 
land's administration.  The  grant  to  Catholics  of  the 
elective  franchise  was  the  act  more  of  Major  Hobart  and 
of  his  government  than  of  himself.  The  forty  shilling 
franchise  was  then  granted  to  the  poorest  and  most  de- 
pendent peasantry  of  Europe,  who  might  one  day 
be  influenced  by  one  motive,  and  the  next  by  its  re- 
verse. It  is  easier  to  grant  than  to  recall,  and  strong 
doubts  were  fairly  entertained  as  to  the  wisdom  of  thaf 
Dart  of  it. 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  337 

The  first  important  debates,  on  granting  the  elective 
franchise  to  Irish  Catholics,  were  in  1792,  on  a  petitio j, 
presented  in  their  favour.  It  was  then  looked  upon  as  a 
most  daring  step ;  intolerance  was  then  in  full  vigour,  and 
Mr.  Latouche  2i"T2  i  to  reject  th^  petition  without  enter- 
ing o/  ito  merits. 

The  prejudice  against  the  Catholics  was  then  so  pow- 
erful, that  their  petition  was  rejected  with  indignation,  by 
a  division  of  208  to  23. 

The  Government,  by  this  majority,  hoped  to  render 
similar  applications  hopeless ;  but,  a  few  months  after,  it 
was  found  necessary  that  the  measure  should  be  recom- 
mended from  the  Throne,  and  supported  by  Government, 
and  was  carried  in  the  same  House  by  a  large  majority. 
The  strange  proceeding  of  the  Irish  Parliament  on  this 
subject,  may  be  accounted  for  by  their  dread  of  reclama- 
tion by  the  Catholics  (should  they  be  admitted  to  power) 
of  their  forfeited  estates,  held  by  Peers  and  Commoners, 
by  grants  of  Elizabeth,  Cromwell,  and  William ;  but 
which,  on  more  mature  reflection,  they  found  to  be 
chimerical. 

The  Legislature,  however,  by  granting  the  elective 
franchise  to  the  Irish  Catholics,  conceded  to  them  the 
very  essence  of  the  British  Constitution. 

Mr.  Pitt's  ulterior  views  as  to  Ireland  solve  the  enigma, 
that  the  virulent  enemies  of  the  Catholics,  who  opposed 
the  slightest  concession,  should  directly  after  vote  them 
the  elective  franchise.  Mr.  Pitt's  object  was  to  recipro- 
cally exasperate  the  two  parties  against  each  other.  The 
indignant  rejection  of  the  petition  of  1792,  inflamed  the 
Catholic  with  resentment,  and  elated  the  Protestant  with 
triumph.  The  concession  of  1793  reversed  these  .  pas- 
sions ;  and  both  parties  felt  equally  disgusted.  The 
Minister  took  every  advantage  of  the  unpopularity  of  the 
Parliament. 

A  very  remarkable  incident  of  inconsistency  occurred 
in  the  House  of  Lords  upon  this  occasion.  Lord  Clare, 
the  most  unqualified  enemy  the  Catholics  ever  had,  and 
the  most  virulent  against  them,  on  the  debate  in  1793 
Bpoke  and  voted  for  giving  them  the  elective  franchise, 
which  he  had  previously  asserted  would  be  a  breach  of 
the  Coronation  Oath,  and  destructive  to  the  Church  and 

29 


RISE    AND    FALL 

State.  On  the  other  hand,  Lord  Charlemont,  ai  ways  th« 
most  zealous  friend  of  the  Irish  people,  and  the  most  dis- 
tinguished of  the  gentle  breed  of  patriots,  on  the  same 
debate  spoke  in  favour  of  the  Catholics,  yet  voted  against 
any  concession  whatsoever. 

Lord  Clare  wished  to  do  mischief  on  Mr.  Pitt's  system, 
even  at  his  own  expense.  Lord  Charlemont  wished  to 
do  good,  but  was  too  shallow  to  see  the  designs  of  the 
Chancellor,  or  even  to  mix  policy  with  his  candour.* 

Though  Lord  Westmoreland  was  powerfully  opposed 
in  Parliament,  during  the  whole  of  his  government,  the 
country  was  in  peace,  and  he  was  zealously  supported. 
Had  he  not  been  recalled,  under  pretence  of  making  way 
for  a  general  pacification,  the  nation  had  no  reason  to 
suppose  his  place  would  be  much  better  filled.  His  recall, 
and  the  appointment  and  deposition  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam, 
his  successor,  within  three  months,  completed  the  train 
which  Mr.  Pitt  had  laid  for  the  explosion.  Having 
divided  the  country,  and  obtained  the  means  of  packing 
the  Parliament,  through  the  Place  Bill,  he  suffered  some 
men  to  disseminate  tne  French  revolutionary  mania;  and 
having  proceeded  so  far,  recalled  Lord  Westmoreland, 
and  encouraged  others  to  raise  their  loyalty  into  the 
region  of  madness. 

His  Lordship  had  not  completed  the  usual  term  of 
residence,  nor  had  he  failed  in  his  duties ;  and  his  ap- 
pearing not  to  feel  hurt  at  his  abrupt  recall  was  mysteri- 
ous, and  seemed  to  forbode  some  important  scheme  or 
deception. 

VI.  The  appointment  of  Lord  Fitzwilliam,  who  had 
previously  opposed  the  administration,  was,  perhaps,  the 
most  deep  and  treacherous  design  ever  contemplated  by 
any  minister.  But  Mr.  Pitt  had  never  been  in  Ireland, 
and  experienced  difficulties  he  did  not  anticipate.  He 
fancied  he  might  excite  and  suppress  commotion  at  hit 
convenience  ;  but,  in  deciding  upon  forcing  a  premature 

*  The  ablest  of  the  Catholic  leaders,  at  that  time,  was  Mr.  Keough , 
he  possessed  a  very  strong  intellect,  and  had  more  intelligence  and  more 
influence  with  that  body,  than  any  man  of  that  persuasion ;  he  was  j 
leader  at  all  their  early  meetings,  and  of  very  great  use  in  forwarding 
their  measures.  After  their  attainment  of  the  elective  franchise,  he  still 
vged  their  claims  with  talent,  vigour,  and  perseverance 


rr   THE    IRISH    NATION.  339 

insurrection  for  a  particular  object,  he  did  not  calculate 
on  the  torrent  of  blood  that  would  be  shed,  and  the  in- 
veterate hatred  that  might  be  perpetuated  against  (he 
British  Government.  His  resolution  was  taken,  and  he 
prevailed  upon  one  of  the  most  pure  and  respected  of  the 
Whig  leaders  to  become  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  under  a  sup- 
position that  he  was  selected  to  tranquilize  and  to  foster 
that  country.  The  Minister  wanted  only  a  high-minded 
victim,  as  an  instrument  to  agitate  the  Irish.  His  Lord- 
ship had  great  estates  in  Ireland — was  one  of  its  most 
kind  and  indulgent  landlords,  and  was  extremely  popular. 
His  manners  were,  perhaps,  too  mild,  but  he  had  enlarged 
principles  of  political  liberty,  and  of  religious  toleration. 
Mr.  Pitt  had  assured  him  he  should  have  the  gratification 
of  fully  emancipating  the  Irish  Catholics.  Lord  Fitz- 
william  accepted  the  office  only  on  that  consideration, 
and  with  this  entire  conviction  he  repaired  to  Dublin,  to 
carry  into  immediate  execution  what  he  conceived  would 
for  ever  tranquilize  that  country.  Mr.  Pitt  intended  to 
inflame  the  country — throw  upon  the  Viceroy  the  in- 
sinuation of  disobedience — and  openly  charge  him  with  a 
precipitancy,  of  which  he  himself  was  the  real  author. 

Never  was  a  scheme  conducted  with  more  address  and 
secrecy.  Lord  Fitzwilliam  was  received  with  open  arms 
by  the  people — he  immediately  commenced  his  arrange- 
ments— and  Mr.  Pitt  began  as  closely  to  counteract 
them.  In  every  act  of  his  government,  Lord  Fitzwilliam 
was  either  deceived  or  circumvented. 

Mr.  Pitt's  end  was  answered :  he  thus  raised  the  Catho- 
lics to  the  height  of  expectation,  and,  by  suddenly  recall- 
ing their  favourite  Viceroy,  he  inflamed  them  to  tho 
degree  of  generating  the  commotions  he  meditated,  which 
would  throw  the  Protestants  into  the  arms  of  England  for 
protection,  whilst  the  horrors  would  be  aggravated  by  the 
mingled  conflicts  of  parties,  royalists  and  republicans. 

By  this  measure,  too,  Mr.  Pitt  had  the  gratification  of 
humbling  Earl  Fitzwilliam,  disgracing  the  Whigs,  over- 
whelming the  Opposition,  turning  the  Irish  into  fanatics, 
and  thereby  preparing  the  gentry  of  that  country  for  th« 
project  that  was  immediately  to  succeed  it. 

The  conduct  of  the  Duke  of  Portland  must  have  been 
either   culpable   or    imbecile — he    must  either   have  bo- 


840  RISE    AND    PALL 

frayed  Lord  Fitzwilliam  to  Mr.  Pitt,  or  Mr.  Pitt  must 
have  made  him  a  blind  instrument  of  tieachery  to  his 
friend.  The  first  is  most  probable,  as  he  remained  in 
office  after  his  friend  had  been  disgraced,  and,  in  direct 
contradiction  to  his  own  declaration,  aided  in  the  fatal 
project  which  was  effected  by  that  treachery. 

The  limits  of  this  volume  do  not  admit  of  stating  in 
detail  all  the  important  facts  which  constituted  the  treach- 
ery of  the  Premier,  aud  the  fraud  on  Earl  Fitzwilliam. 
His  Lordship's  letters  to  Lord  Carlisle  cannot  be 
abridged;  every  line  is  material;  in  those  letters  only 
can  the  deception  practised  on  that  nobleman  be  found 
with  that  weight  and  accuracy  which  so  remarkable  an 
incident  in  both  English  and  Irish  history  requires. 

In  those  letters  will  be  found,  as  in  a  glare  of  light, 
on  the  one  side,  that  high-minded,  pure,  virtuous  dignity 
of  mind  and  action,  and  on  the  other,  that  intrepid,  able, 
crafty,  inflexible,  and  unprincipled  conduct,  which  mark- 
ed indelibly  the  characters  of  those  remarkable  per- 
sonages. 

Mr.  Pitt  having  sent  Lord  Fitzwilliam  to  Ireland  with 
unlimited  powers  to  satisfy  the  nation,  permitted  him  to 
proceed  until  he  had  unavoidably  committed  himself  both 
to  the  Catholics  and  country,  when  he  suddenly  recalled 
n  m,  leaving  it  in  a  state  of  excitation  and  dismay. 

The  day  Lord  Fitzwilliam  arrived,  peace  was  pro- 
maimed  throughout  all  Ireland.  The  day  he  quitted  it, 
sne  prepared  for  insurrection. 

The  Beresfords  and  the  Ponsonbys  were  arrayed 
against  each  other — and,  in  one  week  more  the  Beres- 
fords would  have  been  prostrate.  Mr.  Pitt,  however, 
terminated  the  question,  by  dethroning  Lord  Fitzwilliam ; 
the  Whigs  were  defeated — and  Ireland  was  surrendered 
at  discretion  to  Lord  Clare  and  his  connection.  Within 
three  months  after  Lord  Fitzwilliam's  dismissal,  Lord 
Clare  had  got  the  nation  into  full  training  for  military 
ixecution. 

VII.  The  arrival  of  Lord  Camden  to  succeed  Earl 
Fitzwilliam,  was  attended  by  almost  insurrectionary  out- 
rage. The  Beresfords  were  the  ostensible  cause  of  the 
people's  favourite  being  overthrown:  on  that  family 
thereiore,  they  conceived  they  should  signalize  their  vei* 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  341 

geance :  and  their  determination  was  nearly  carried  into 
execution. 

The  Chancellor,  in  his  carriage,  was  assailed ;  he  re- 
ceived the  blow  of  a  stone  on  his  forehead,  which,  with 
somewhat  more  force,  would  have  rid  the  people  of  their 
enemy.  His  house  was  attacked ;  the  populace  were 
determined  to  destroy  him,  and  were  proceeding  to  exe- 
cute their  intentions.  At  that  moment  their  rage  was, 
most  fortunately,  diverted  by  the  address  of  his  sister, 
Mrs.  Jeffries,  who,  unknown  and  at  great  risk,  had  min- 
gled in  the  crowd:  she  misled  them  as  to  the  place  of 
his  concealment.  Disappointed  of  their  object,  they  then 
attacked  the  Custom  House,  where  Mr.  Beresford,  first 
commissioner  of  the  revenue  resided.  Dreadful  results 
were  with  reason  apprehended. 

Such  was  the  inauspicious  beginning  of  Lord  Camden's 
government.  From  the  day  of  his  arrival  the  spirit  of 
insurrection  increased,  and,  in  a  short  period,  during  his 
Lordship's  Government,  more  blood  was  shed,  as  much 
of  outrage  and  cruelty  was  perpetrated  on  both  sides,  and 
as  many  military  executions  took  place,  as  in  ten  times 
the  same  period  during  the  sanguinary  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth, or  the  usurpations  of  Cromwell  or  King  William.* 

VIII.  The  conspiracy  of  united  Irishmen — never  pro- 
foundly secret,  soon  became  public ;  its  members  avowed 
themselves ;  but  the  extent  of  its  objects  was  unknown, 
and  its  civil  arrangements  and  military  organization  far 
exceeded  those  of  any  association  in  history.  Constituents 
knew  not  their  representatives,  and  the  soldiers  knew  not 
the  names  of  those  by  whom  they  were  to  be  commanded. 
Even  the  members  of  their  executive  Directory  were 
utterly  unknown  to  some  hundred  thousand  men,  who 
had  sworn  obedience  to  their  orders.     Mr.  Pitt  was  sur- 

*  T  have  always  considered,  and  still  consider  William  the  Third  as 
an  usurper  in  Ireland,  until  the  flight  of  James,  and  the  Articles  of 
Limerick,  capitulated  for  the  whole  nation ;  after  that,  he  was  to  b*» 
considered  king  dc  facto,  by  conquest.  At  all  events,  it  was  the  result  of 
a  rebellion  in  England  and  of  loyalty  in  Ireland ;  and  it  should  be  recol- 
lected, that  the  Irish  people,  after  that  capitulation,  never  did  rise  or  rebel 
against  his  government,  or  that  of  his  successors,  as  they  did  in  Scotland 
twice,  and  partially  in  England. 

The  insurrection  of  1798  was  excited  by  the  art  rices  of  Mr.  Pitt  if 
pfCNttote  a  Union. 


342  RISE    AND    FALL 

prised,  and  found  the  conspiracy  becoming  rather  too 
extensive  and  dangerous  for  his  purposes  ;  for  a  moment 
he  felt  he  might  possibly  get  beyond  his  depth,  and  he 
conceived  the  necessity  of  forcing  a  premature  explosion, 
by  which  he  might  excite  sufficient  horrors  throughout 
the  country  to  serve  his  purpose,  and  be  able  to  suppress 
the  conspiracy  in  the  bud,  which  might  be  beyond  his 
power  should  it  arrive  at  its  maturity. 

Individually  Lord  Camden  was  an  excellent  man,  and, 
in  ordinary  times,  would  have  been  an  acquisition  to  the 
country,  but  he  was  made  a  cruel  instrument  in  the  hands 
of  Mr.  Pitt,  and  seemed  to  have  no  will  of  his  own. 

Earl  Camden  was  of  a  high  mind,  and  of  unblemished 
reputation ;  his  principles  were  good,  but  his  talent  was 
not  eminent ;  he  intended  right  but  was  led  wrong ;  he 
wished  to  govern  with  moderation,  but  was  driven  by  his 
council  into  most  violent  proceedings  ;  to  the  arrogant 
dictum  of  Lord  Clare  he  had  not  a  power  of  resistance, 
and  he  yielded  to  cruelties  that  his  mind  must  have  re- 
volted at. 

His  Lordship  became  extremely  popular  amongst  the 
armed  associations  which  were  raised  in  Ireland  under 
the  title  of  Yeomen.  He  was  considered  the  guardian  of 
that  institution.  He  did  what  justice  he  was  permitted  to 
do ;  and  a  single  false  act  of  his  own,  during  his  residence 
in  Ireland,  never  was  complained  of.  His  Secretary, 
Earl  Chichester  (Mr.  Pelham),  held  up  the  reputation  of 
the  Government  to  its  proper  standard.  Without  great 
talents,  he  had  good  sense,  good  manners,  a  frank  ad- 
dress, with  humane,  honourable,  and  just  intentions ;  but, 
at  a  critical  moment  he  was  obliged  to  return  to  England 
for  his  health,  and  Lord  Camden  filled  up  the  vacancy 
by  his  nephew.  This  relative  became  one  of  the  most 
celebrated  persons  of  his  day,  and  is  the  principal  hero  in 
the  sequel  of  Irish  history,  and  in  England  proved  him- 
self a  most  destructive  minister  to  the  finances  and  cha- 
racter of  the  British  Empire. 

However,  with  all  his  good  qualities  as  Viceroy,  Lord 
Camden's  Government  was  by  its  consequences,  the  most 
ruinous,  and  most  unfortunate,  that  Ireland  ever  experi* 
enced. 

Lord  Clare  and  his  connections,  int  >xicated  by  theii 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  343 

fictory  ovar  the  late  Viceroy,  set  no  bounds  to  thei. 
triumph  ;  they  treated  the  people  as  their  vassals,  the 
country  as  their  demesne,  and  its  patronage  as  their  pri- 
vate property. 

IX.  On  a  review  of  the  state  of  Ireland  at  that  period, 
it  must  be  obvious  to  every  deliberate  observer,  that  the 
design  ^f  Mr.  Pitt,  to  effect  some  mysterious  measure  in 
Ireland,  was  now,  through  the  unaccountable  conduct  of 
the  Irish  Government,  beginning  to  develope  itself.  The 
seed?  of  insurrection,  which  had  manifested  themselves 
in  Scotland  and  in  England,  were  by  the  vigour  and 
promptitude  of  the  British  Government,  rapidly  crushed ; 
and  by  the  reports  of  Parliament,  Lord  Melville  had  ob- 
tained and  published  prints  of  the  different  pikes  manu- 
factured in  Scotland,  long  before  that  weapon  had  been 
manufactured  by  the  Irish  peasantry.  But  in  Ireland, 
though  it  appeared,  from  public  documents,  that  Govern- 
ment had  full  and  accurate  information  of  the  Irish  United 
Societies,  and  that  their  leaders  and  chiefs  were  well 
known  to  the  British  Ministry,  at  the  same  period,  and 
by  the  same  means  that  England  and  Scotland  were  kept 
tranquil,  so  might  have  been  Ireland. 

Mr.  Pitt,  however,  found  he  had  temporized  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  prudence  ;  the  disaffected  had  not  yet  appear- 
ed as  a  collected  army,  but  a  succession  of  partial  out- 
rages convinced  him  that  prompt  and  decisive  measures 
became  absolutely  indispensable.  The  Earl  of  Car- 
hampton,  Commander-in-Chief  in  Ireland,  first  expressed 
his  dissatisfaction  at  Mr,  Pitt's  inexplicable  proceedings. 
His  Lordship  had  but  little  military  experience,  but  he 
was  a  man  of  the  world,  of  courage,  and  decision,  ardent, 
and  obstinate  ;  he  determined  right  or  wrong,  to  annihi- 
late the  conspiracy.  Without  the  consent  of  the  Irish 
Government,  he  commanded  the  troops,  that,  on  all 
symptoms  of  insurrectionary  movements,  they  should 
act  without  waiting  for  the  presence  of  any  civil  power. 
Martial  law  had  not  then  been  proclaimed.  He  went, 
therefore,  a  length,  which  could  not  possibly  be  support* 
ed ;  his  orders  were  countermanded  by  the  Lord  Lieu- 
^nant ;  but  he  refused  to  obey  the  Viceroy,  under  coloui 
that  he  had  no  rank  in  the  army. 

Lord  Carhampton  found  that  the  troops  in  the  garrison 


544  RISE    AND    FALL 

of  Dublin  were  daily  corrupted  by  the  United  Irishmen  j 
he  therefore  withdrew  them,  and  formed  two  distinct 
camps  on  the  south  and  north,  some  miles  from  the  capital, 
and  thereby,  as  he  conceived,  prevented  all  intercourse 
of  the  army  with  the  disaffected  of  the  metropolis.  Both 
measures  were  disapproved  of  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant, 
whom  Lord  Carhampton  again  refused  to  obey. 

The  King's  sign  manual  was  at  length  procured,  or- 
dering him  to  break  up  his  camps,  and  bring  back  the 
garrison ;  this  he  obeyed,  and  marched  the  troops  into 
Dublin  barracks.  He  then  resigned  his  command,  ana 
publicly  declared,  that  some  deep  and  insidious  scheme 
of  the  Minister  was  in  agitation :  for,  instead  of  suppress- 
ing,  the  Irish  Government  was  obviously  disposed  to  ex- 
cite an  insurrection. 

Mr.  Pitt  counted  on  the  expertness  of  the  Irish  Govern, 
ment  to  effect  a  premature  explosion.  Free  Quarters* 
were  now  ordered,  to  irritate  the  Irish  population  ;  Slow 
Tortures  were  inflicted  under  the  pretence  of  forcing 
confessions  ;  the  people  were  goaded  and  driven  to  mad- 
ness. 

General  Abercromby,  who  succeeded  as  Commander- 
in-Chief,  was  not  permitted  to  abate  these  enormities, 
and  therefore  resigned  with  disgust.t  Ireland  was  by 
these  means  reduced  to  a  state  of  anarchy,  and  exposed 
to  crime  and  cruelties  to  which  no  nation  had  ever  been 
subject.  The  people  could  no  longer  bear  their  miseries. 
Mr.  Pitt's  object  was  now  effected,  and  an  insu/iect:on 
was  excited. 

*  Free  Quarters  is  a  term  not  yet  practically  known  in  Er.gland 
Free  Quarters  rendered  officers  and  soldiers  despotic  masters  of  the  peas- 
antry, their  houses,  food,  property,  and,  occasionally,  their  familie* 
This  measure  was  resorted,  with  all  its  attendant  horrors,  throughout 
some  of  the  best  parts  of  Ireland,  previous  to  the  insurrectic  1,  and  foi 
the  purpose  of  exciting  it. 

f  General  Abercromby,  in  general  orders,  stated  that  the  any  r)i*x& 
under  his  command,  from  their  state  of  disorganization,  wou.'d  scv:  m 
much  mora  formidable  to  their  friends  than  to  their  enemies ;  and  t%<  m 
Would  not  countenance  or  adm?t  Free  Quarters. 


OV    THE    IRISH    NATION.  344 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

iMMJTexjtion — Topography  of  Wexford  County — Persecutions  and  creel 
ties  of  the  Wexford  Gentry — Commencement  of  Hostilities — State  ot 
the  Insurgents — And  their  number — Expected  attack  on  Dublin- 
Excellent  plan  of  the  Insurgents — Executions  in  cold  blood,  and  bar- 
barous exhibition  in  the  Castle  yard — Major  Bacon  executed  withou 
trial — Major  Foot  defeated — Col.  Walpole  defeated  and  killed — Gen- 
eral Fawcett  defeated — General  Dundas  and  the  Cavalry  defeated  by 
the  Pikemen  —  Captain  Armstrong's  treachery  —  Henry  and  John 
Shears — The  execution  of  the  two  brothers — Progress  of  the  insur- 
rection— Different  Battles — Important  Battle  of  Arklow — Spirited  reply 
of  Colonel  Skerrit — Battle  of  Ross — Bagenal  Harvey — Death  of  Lord 
Mountjoy — Unprecedented  instance  of  Heroism  in  a  Boy — The  Royal 
Army  driven  out  of  the  town — Description  of  Vinegar  Hill — Details 
of  the  Engagement — General  Lake's  horse  shot  under  him — Ennis- 
cortiiy  twice  stormed — Wounded  peasants  burned — Mr.  Grogan  tried 
i?y  Court  Martial — His  witness  shot  by  the  military — Bill  of  attainder 
— Ten  thousand  pounds  costs  to  the  A ttorney  General — Barbarous  ex- 
ecution of  Sir  Edward  Crosby  and  Mr.  Grogan,  under  colour  of  a 
Court  Martial. 

I.  These  sanguinary  transactions  will,  in  the  opinions  of 
posterity,  be  placed  to  the  account  of  those  who  might 
have  prevented  them.  The  success  of  the  illiterate  in- 
surgents at  the  commencement,  nearly  confirmed  them  in 
the  idea  of  their  cause  being  divine  :  they  were  led  to 
hope,  that,  by  their  numbers,  impetuosity,  and  persever- 
ance, they  could  obtain  their  liberation  from  an  oppres- 
sive Government  and  a  tyrannical  aristocracy.  The 
ignorance  or  indiscretion  of  many  of  the  king's  officers 
who  had  encountered  them,  exciled  their  contempt,  whilo 
their  own  natural  habits  and  instinctive  tact  led  them  to 
a  system  of  ambuscade  and  stratagem,  which,  in  many 
instances  proved  disastrous  to  the  king's  forces.  The 
pike,  at  the  commencement,  very  frequently  succeeded 
against  the  regular,  and  always  against  the  yeoman 
cavalry  ;  and,  in  close  combat  with  even  the  infantry,  it 
proved  in  some  instances  irresistible.* 

*  The  extreme  expertness  with  which  the  Irian  handled  the  pike  waa 


RISE    AND    FALL 

Almost  all  countries  possess  some  national  weapon,  in 
the  use  of  which  the  inhabitants  are  more  expert  than  at 
any  other,  and  their  superiority  at  which  is  evinced  in 
every  insurrection.  The  Highland  broadsword  and  tar- 
get, in  the  rebellions  of  Scotland,  were  eminently  suc- 
cessful; the  Polish  lances,  the  American  rifle,  and  the 
Indian  tomahawk,  were  often  as  successful  against  regu- 
lar troops. 

II.  Wexford,  though  so  near  the  metropolis,  is  not  a 
frequented  county,  as  it  is  not  a  direct  thoroughfare  to  any 
other  part  of  the  kingdom:  the  towns  of  Gorey,  Arklow, 
and  Wicklow  intervene  between  Wexford  and  Dublin. 
The  king's  troops  were  in  possession  of  Arklow,  and  the 
country  to  the  metropolis,  through  Wicklow.  They  in- 
terrupted the  communication  between  Wexford  and  the 
Wicklow  mountains  ;  and,  on  that  side,  left  the  Wexford 
insurgents  almost  isolated  in  their  original  position. 

hi  the  interior  of  the  county,  however,  the  insurgents 
had  many  strong  positions  ;  and,  on  the  south  side,  the 
town  of  New  Ross  was  the  only  impediment  to  their 
making  themselves  masters  of  Waterford,  where  they 
were  certain  of  being  immediately  joined  by  the  Munster 
insurgents,  particularly  by  the  Waterford  and  Tipperary 
men,  the  most  numerous  and  efficient  in  the  kingdom ; 
and  this  possession  of  New  Ross  gave  rise  to  one  of  the 
most  bloody  and  most  protracted  battles  ever  fought  in 
Ireland. 

The  reckless  ferocity,  so  natural  to  men  resisting  op- 
pression, here  had  full  scope  for  its  terrific  development. 
The  peasantry  of  that  country  were,  in  a  great  proportion, 
of  English  descent ;  they  had  been  taught  that  it  was 
right  to  separate  themselves  from  England ;   and  they 

surprising ;  by  withdrawing,  they  could  shorten  it  to  little  more  than  the 
length  of  a  dagger,  and,  in  a  second,  dart  it  out  to  its  full  extent.  At 
Old  Kilcullen,  they  entirely  repulsed  General  Dundas,  and  the  heavy 
cavalry,  in  a  regular  charge,  killing  two  captains  and  many  soldiers: 
the  General  escaped  with  great  difficulty,  by  the  fleetness  of  his  horse. 
At  New  Ross,  they  entirely  broke  the  heavy  horse  by  their  pikes.  A 
Bolid  mass,  or  deep  column  of  determined  pikemen,  could  only  be  broken 
by  artillery,  or  a  heavy  fire  of  musketry:  well-served  artillery  they 
eould  not  withstand,  if  not  close  enough  to  be  rushed  upon.  Colonel 
Foot's  detachment  of  infantry  was  nearly  annihilated  by  the  pike  tl 
Ottkxt ;  only  the  m^or  and  two  others  escaped. 


>T   THE    IRISH    NATION.  347 

were  filled  with  that  dreadful  doctrine,  that,  "  if  the  object 
Se  good,  the  means  are  immaterial." 

Upon  this  doctrine,  however,  many  of  the  higher  orders 
lad  unequivocally  acted.  A  portion  of  the  gentry  of  the 
county  of  Wexford  were  boisterous,  overbearing,  and  de- 
void of  judgment ;  their  Christian  principles  were  merged 
in  their  Protestant  ascendency.  The  frenzy  of  an  exter- 
minating principle  seemed  to  have  taken  root  amongst 
them  ;  and  they  acted  as  if  under  the  impression,  that 
burning  every  cottage,  and  torturing  every  cottager,  were 
a  meritorious  proof  of  their  faith  and  loyalty.  Great 
and  most  unwarrantable  excesses  had  been  practised  by 
tome  of  the  Protestant  gentry  on  the  lower  orders :  some 
of  them  were  nearly  as  savage,  and  certainly  as  sangui- 
nary as  the  most  vicious  of  the  insurgents.  Those  men 
committed  their  loyal  brutalities  without  calculating  that 
a  single  victory  might  enable  the  insurgents  to  retaliate. 

The  conduct  of  the  Wexford  gentry  was  held  out,  by 
insurgent  leaders,  to  the  inflamed  population,  as  a  system 
to  be  retaliated  ;  nor  is  it  possible  to  deny,  that  natural 
justice  gave  some  colour  to  that  sanguinary  doctrine. 
The  lower  orders  uninstructed  in  the  distinction  between 
the  rights  of  Government  and  the  mad  excesses  of  the 
bigoted  gentry  or  tyrannical  functionaries,  naturally  mis- 
took retaliation  for  justice,  and  followed  exactly  the  course 
of  devastation  which  had  been  inflicted  upon  themselves. 
The  mansions  of  the  gentry  experienced  the  same  fate 
which  the  gentry  had  inflicted  on  the  cottages.  The  in- 
surgents considered  every  Protestant  a  tyrant ;  the  Pro- 
testants proclaimed  every  Catholic  a  rebel ;  reason  was 
banished,  mercy  was  denounced,  and  the  reciprocal  thirst 
for  blood  became  insatiable. 

til.  Actual  hostilities  now  commenced  by  skirmishes 
round  the  city  of  Dublin,  and  several  simultaneous  at- 
tacks were  made  by  the  insurgents,  upon  various  posts  and 
garrisons,  with  surprising  pertinacity.  They  had  neither 
officers,  regular  arms,  nor  discipline  ;  their  plans,  there- 
fore, though  acutely  devised,  could  have  no  certainty  of 
regular  or  punctual  execution  ;  yet  a  masterly  system  of 
tactics,  of  combinations,  and  of  offensive  warfare  had 
been  originally  determined  upon.  Though  these,  in  a 
great  measure,  had  been  frustrated  by  the  death  of  Lord 


148  RISE    AND    FALL 

Edward  Fitzgerald,  and  the  arrest  of  the  Directory,  they 
were  executed  sufficiently  to  prove  that  there  had  been 
»he  plan  of  an  effectual  resistance  to  the  Government. 

The  number  of  the  insurgents  is  utterly  impossible  to 
be  stated  with  accuracy.  There  then  existed  in  Ireland 
at  least  125,000  effective  men  at  arms,  who,  from  the 
amallness  of  the  island,  could  be  collected  and  marshalled 
in  a  week  throughout  the  entire  kingdom.* 

The  insurgents  were  unpaid — many  of  them  nearly 
unclothed,  few  of  them  well  armed,  all  of  them  undisci- 
plined, with  scarcely  any  artillery,  no  cavalry,  their  pow- 
der and  ammunition  mostly  prepared  by  themselves,  no 
tents  or  covering,  no  money,  no  certainty  of  provisions, 
obedience  to  their  chiefs,  and  adherence  to  their  cause, 
were  altogether  voluntary.  Under  these  circumstances, 
their  condition  must  have  been  precarious,  and  theii 
numbers  variable.  No  one  leader  amongst  them  had 
sufficient  power  to  control  or  counteract  their  propensities, 
yet  they  fought  with  wonderful  perseverance,  address, 
and  intrepidity.! 

*  Some  of  the  returns  stated  that  above  four  hundred  thousand  men 
had  been  sworn,  and  privately  drilled ;  but  little  faith  can  be  placed  in 
any  document  on  the  subject.  Had  the  cause  continued  to  succeed,  the 
numbers  would  have  been  double.  In  1782,  above  one  hundred  thousand 
Independent  Volunteers  were  well  clothed,  armed,  and  disciplined,  an  J 
about  fifty  thousand  more  of  an  inferior  description,  were  assembled 

f  One  of  the  insurgents  in  the  town  of  Wexford,  with  whom  I  wai 
well  acquainted,  gave  me  much  information,  and  a  great  insight  into  th  » 
transactions  of  that  county.  He  was  a  rational  man,  and  disgusted  witl 
both  parties,  he  would  have  been  neutral,  but  neutrality  was  impo?- 
sible ;  and  Mr.  Taylor,  a  Royalist,  and  a  man  of  truth  and  integrity, 
Whom  the  insurgents,  on  pain  of  death,  had  forced  to  print  their  procla- 
mation,  gave  me  many  of  their  documents,  and  a  great  deal  of  intelli- 
gence. I  collected,  on  all  hands,  that,  on  the  first  rising,  there  were  no1 
five  thousand  insurgents  to  attack  the  town  of  Wexford ;  but  that  the 
King's  troops  having  evacuated  the  place,  with  a  considerable  force,  and 
without  any  effort  to  defend  it,  and  being  harassed  on  their  retreat,  this 
first  and  most  important  success  had  its  immediate  effect,  and  before 
noon  the  next  day  more  than  twenty  thousand  Wexford  men  had  flocked 
to  their  standards,  and  they  hourly  increased  in  number  while  success  waa 
possible.  At  the  battle  of  New  Ross,  I  was  assured  that  Bagenal  Har- 
vey had  thirty  thousand,  at  the  battle  of  Arklow  there  were  more  than 
20,000 :  and,  as  the  most  unequivocal  proof  of  their  formidable  nuin- 
bers,  at  the  engagement  of  Vinegar  Hill,  General  Lake  did  not  think  it 
advisable  to  a&aok  then  with  less  than  twenty  thousand  regu  <ar  troops  and 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  34$ 

IT.  ^  night  attack  on  the  metropolis  had  been  long 
meditated  by  the  united  Irishmen,  but  its  early  execution 
had  not  been  anticipated  by  the  Government.  The  Lord 
Lieutenant  ascertained  that  such  an  attempt  was  to  be 
made  on  the  23d  of  May,  1798,  by  a  large  body  of  in- 
surgents then  collecting  on  the  north  of  Swords  and 
Santry,  and  on  the  south  under  the  Rathfarnham  moun- 
tains less  than  five  miles  from  the  city.  Of  their  num- 
bers, leaders,  arms,  or  tactics,  every  body  was  ignorant, 
all  was  confusion  and  every  report  was  extravagantly 
exaggerated.  The  regular  garrison,  and  the  yeomanry, 
prepared  themselves  with  the  utmost  animation,  but 
nobody  knew  his  station,  or  could  ascertain  his  duty. 
Orders  were  issued,  and  immediately  revoked,  positions 
were  assigned  and  countermanded,  more  confused,  inde- 
cisive, and  unintelligible  arrangements  of  a  military 
natuie  never  appeared. 

No  probable  point  of  attack  was  signified,  and  the  only 
principle  of  defence  appeared  to  be  comprised  in  one  sen- 
tence, "  every  man  for  himself,  and  God  for  us  all." 
Lord  Clare  appeared  the  most  busy  and  active,  as  far  as 
his  tongue  extended.  Confidence  and  bravery  were  re- 
commended in  all  quarters ;  but  a  very  serious  uneasiness 
was  perceptible  throughout  the  metropolis ;  hi?  Lordship's 
activity  was  confined  to  the  council  chamber,  and  to  the 
upper  court  of  the  castle. 

As  night  approached,  orders  were  given  that  the  yeo- 

a  considerable  artillery.  Cavalry  and  mortars  were  brought  to  force  their 
line,  and  even  against  such  an  attack  they  made  a  long  and  desperate  re- 
sistance, and  retreated  from  that  large  and  disciplined  army  with  very 
little  (comparative)  loss. 

I  had  every  reason  to  believe  (and  I  omitted  no  means  of  ascertaining 
tiie  reality),  that  above  thirty-five  thousand  men  had  risen  in  the  county 
of  Wexford  alone  This  species  of  computation  may,  therefore,  be 
indulged  in  as  theory,  certainly  not  as  a  true  criterion.  Wexford  is  only 
one  of  thirty-two  counties,  by  no  means  the  most  populous,  and  far 
from  the  most  extensive.  Had  the  rising  been  general,  the  northern 
counties  might  have  furnished  as  many,  the  southern  counties  more,  and 
the  midland  less  than  Wexford.  A  rough  (but  no  doubt  uncertain)  aver- 
age, may  be  drawn  from  these  data,  as  to  what  the  possible  or  probable 
mmount  of  insurgents  might  have  been,  throughout  the  entire  kingdom, 
if  the  struggle  had  been  protracted.  It  is  equally  clear,  that  had  th« 
insurgents  possessed  arms,  officers,  and  discipline,  their  numbers  would 
fc*an  have  rendered  them  masters  of  the  kingdom. 

30 


&5t)  RISE    AND    FALL 

men,  cavalry  and  infantry,  should  occupy  Smithfield 
which  was,  at  length,  considered  as  the  probable  point  01 
attack  from  Santry,  where  the  peasantry  were  reported 
to  have  collected  in  the  greatest  numbers.  The  yeomen, 
amongst  whom  were  nearly  eight  hundred  attorneys,  horse 
and  foot,  turned  out.  Theii  .infantry  was  effective,  and 
their  cavalry  excellent.  The  gradations  of  theii  disci- 
pline and  enthusiasm  were,  h:  wever,  extremely  amusing ; 
those  who  had  imbibed  their  full  quantum  of  generous 
fluids,  were  the  most  fierce  and  enthusiastic :  others  who 
had  dined  on  substantial  matters,  were  as  steady  as  posts. 
But  those  who  had  been  paraded  before  dinner,  after 
standing  under  arms  for  some  hours,  could  endure  it  no 
longer,  and  a  forced  loan  of  cheese,  tongues,  and  bottled 
porter,  from  a  Mr.  Murray,  of  Great  George's- street,  was 
unanimously  decided  upon,  and  immediately  carried  into 
execution.  The  barristers,  commanded  by  Captain  Saurin, 
were  from  their  position  likely  to  sustain  the  first  onset 
of  the  pikemen ;  and  as  night  closed,  such  a  scene  of 
military  array  never  was,  and  probably  never  will  be  wit- 
nessed. Smithfield  is  a  long  and  very  wide  street,  open 
at  both  ends,  one  of  which  is  terminated  by  the  quays  and 
river.  It  is  intersected  by  narrow  streets,  and  formed 
altogether  one  of  the  most  disagreeable  positions  in  which 
an  immense  body  of  demi-disciplined  men  and  horses 
ever  were  stationed  in  solid  mass,  without  any  other  order 
than,  "  if  you  are  attacked,  defend  yourselves  to  the  last 
extremity.1'' 

The  cavalry  and  infantry  were,  in  some  places,  so 
compactly  interwoven,  that  a  dragoon  could  not  wield  his 
sword  without  cutting  down  a  foot  soldier,  nor  a  foot 
soldier  discharge  his  musket  without  knocking  down  a 
trooper.  The  cavalry  being  elevated,  could  breathe  freely 
in  the  crowd ;  but  the  infantry  could  scarcely  avoid 
suffocation.  A  few  hundred  insurgents,  with  long  pikes, 
coming  on  rapidly  in  the  dark,  might,  without  difficulty, 
have  assailed  the  yeomen  at  once  from  five  different 
points.  The  Barristers  and  Attorneys'  corps  occupied 
three  of  those  points.  So  much  for  General  Craig*! 
tactics. 

The  danger  was  considered  imminent,  the  defence 
unpracticab  e ;    yet   there  was   a   cheerful,    thoughtless 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.     .  351 

jocularity  with  which  the  English  nation,  under  grave 
circumstances,  are  totally  unacquainted;  and  plain  matter 
of  fact  men  can  scarcely  conceive  that  renovating  levity 
which  carries  an  Irish  heart  buoyantly  over  every  wave, 
which  would  swamp,  or  at  least  water-log,  their  more 
steady  fellow-subjects.  All  the  barristers,  attorneys, 
merchants,  bankers,  revenue  officers,  shopkeepers,  student* 
of  the  University,  doctors,  apothecaries,  and  corporators, 
of  an  immense  metropolis,  in  red  coats,  with  a  sprinkling 
of  parsons,  all  doubled  up  together,  awaiting  in  profound 
darkness  (not  with  impatience),  for  invisible  executioners 
to  dispatch  them  without  mercy,  was  not  (abstractedly] 
a  situation  to  engender  much  hilarity.  Scouts  now  ana 
then  came,  only  to  report  their  ignorance,  a  running  buzz 
occasionally  went  round,  that  the  videts  were  driven  in — 
and  the  reports  of  distant  musketry,  like  a  twitch  of 
electricity,  gave  a  slight  but  perceptible  movement  to 
men's  muscles.  A  few  (faintly  heard)  shots  on  the  north 
side  also  seemed  to  announce  that  the  vanguard  of  the 
Santry  men  was  approaching.  In  the  mean  time,  no 
further  orders  came  from  the  general,  and  if  there  had, 
no  orders  could  have  been  obeyed.  It  appeared,  at  break 
of  day,  that  both  the  Santry  and  Rathfarnham  men  had 
adjourned  their  main  assault  till  some  other  opportunity. 

The  different  corps  now  got  more  regular,  the  bands 
struck  up  "  God  save  the  King" — the  danger  of  the  night, 
in  all  its  ramifications,  re-occupied  the  tongue  of  every 
soldier  in  Smithfield ;  and  at  length  an  order  came  from 
General  Craig  (Lord  Roden  being  victorious  in  a  skir- 
mish), to  dismiss  the  troops,  and  to  parade  again  in  the 
evening.  Never  was  an  order  obeyed  with  more  alacrity, 
and  never  did  insurgents  lose  so  favourable  an  opportunity 
of  covering  a  field  of  battle  with  more  distinguished 
carcases. 

The  insurgents  on  the  south  intended  to  take  the  castle 
by  surprise,  whilst  the  Santry  men  assailed  the  barracks ; 
but  their  plan  was  disconcerted  by  Lord  Roden,  at  the 
head  of  his  dragoons  (called  the  fox  hunters,  from  their 
noble  horses).  His  Lordship  marched  rapidly  upon  them, 
and  surprised  the  few  who  had  collected ;  and,  being 
■upported  by  a  small  number  of  light  infantry,  the  attack 
completely  succeeded.     A  few  were  sabred,  and  some  few 


852  KISZ    AND    FALL 

made  prisoners;  but  the  body  dispersed  with  little  rt.-sist- 
ance.  Lord  Roden  received  a  ball  on  his  helmet,  but 
was  only  bruised,  and  some  dragoons  were  wounded ;  the 
other  (county  of  Dublin)  men  retreated  to  join  the  Kildare 
men  ;  the  southern  marched  to  unite  themselves  with  those 
of  Wicklow.  Their  plan  had  been  excellent,  had  they 
acted  steadily  on  it,  success  was  not  improbable ;  however, 
the  metropolis  for  some  time  had  no  further  dread  of 
molestation. 

A  new,  disgusting,  and  horrid  scene  was  next  morning 
publicly  exhibited  ;  after  which  military  executions  com- 
menced, and  continued  with  unabating  activity.  Some 
dead  bodies  of  insurgents,  sabred  the  night  before  by  Lord 
Roden's  dragoons,  were  brought  in  a  cart  to  Dublin,  with 
some  prisoners  tied  together;  the  carcases  were  stretched 
out  in  the  Castle  yard,  where  the  Viceroy  then  resided, 
and  in  full  view  of  the  Secretary's  windows ;  they  lay  on 
the  pavement  as  trophies  of  the  first  skirmish,  during  a 
hot  day,  cut  and  gashed  in  every  part,  covered  with 
clotted  blood  and  dust,  the  most  frightful  spectacle  which 
ever  disgraced  a  royal  residence,  save  the  seraglio.  After 
several  hours  exposure,  some  appearance  of  life  was  per- 
ceived in  one  of  the  mutilated  carcases.  The  man  had 
been  stabbed  and  gashed  in  various  parts ;  his  body  was 
removed  into  the  guard-room,  and  means  w  jre  taken  to 
restore  animation ;  the  efforts  succeeded,  he  entirely 
recovered,  and  was  pardoned  by  Lord  Camden ;  he  was 
an  extraordinarily  fine  young  man,  above  six  feet  high, 
the  son  of  a  Mr.  Keough,  an  opulent  landholder  of  Rath- 
farnham  ;  he  did  not,  however,  change  his  principles,  and 
was,  ultimately,  sent  out  of  the  country. 

That  morning,  the  yeomanry  corps  were  called  upon 
to  attend  the  execution  of  Lord  Roden's  prisoners,  who 
were  ordered  to  be  hanged  from  the  lamp  irons,  or  on  the 
bridges.  It  was  a  service  the  respectable  corps  declined, 
several,  however,  went  individually  as  spectators.  The 
first  victim  to  that  arbitrary  and  ill-judged  execution,  was 
a  Mr.  Led  witch,  of  Rathfarnham,  the  brother  of  a  Catho- 
lic clergyman.* 

*  He  was  a  remarkably  large  and  heavy  person,  and  was  hanged  on 
one  oi  the  bridges.  Py  the  inexperience  of  the  executioner,  Mr.  Led- 
iritch  suffered  a  prolonged  and  cruel  death ;  the  rope  frequently  *  yped 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  353 

Others  were  executed  at  the  same  time ;  some  of  the 
lamplighters  also  paid  with  their  lives  for  their  former 
night's  omission,  and  blood  began  to  flow  with  but  little 
mercy.  Bacon  (a  Major  of  the  old  volunteers),  was  caught 
in  a  female  garb,  endeavouring  to  quit  the  city ;  and 
under  a  general  order  to  execute,  forthwith,  all  persons 
found  in  disguise,  he  was  led  to  Carlisle  Bridge,  and 
hanged  from  the  scaffolding.  These  species  of  executions 
became  common,  and  habit  soon  reconciled  men  to  what 
was  not  only  disgusting,  but  horrible. 

V.  Martial  law  was  now  proclaimed,  and  the  courts 
of  justice  closed,  except  on  civil  subjects.  The  barristers 
pleaded  in  their  uniform,  with  their  side-arms,  one  of  the 
judges  (Baron  Medge)  appeared  on  the  bench  in  the  same 
uniform,  the  names  of  the  inmates  of  every  house  were 
pasted  on  every  door,  fabricated  reports  of  massacres  and 
poisonings  were  daily  propagated,  the  city  assumed, 
altogether,  the  appearance  of  one  monstrous  barrack,  or 
slaughter-house.  The  attacks  on  the  royal  garrisons  in 
Kildare  and  Dublin  counties,  were  in  many  places  unsuc- 
cessful ;  on  other  points  the  insurgents  entirely  succeeded, 
and  no  quarter  was  granted  on  either  side.  The  town  of 
Prosperous  was  taken,  and  the  garrison  were  killed  by  the 
peasantry. 

On  the  Wexford  side  the  insurgents,  at  first,  were 
almost  uniformly  successful ;  they  took  Wexford  without 
resistance;  the  garrison  retreated  with  mu:h  fighting  and 
some  loss.  Enniscorthy  was  stormed  by  the  peasantry, 
and,  after  a  desperate  conflict,  most  of  the  town  was 
burned,  and  a  great  portion  of  the  garrison  cut  to  pieces ; 
the  residue  escaped,  with  great  difficulty,  through  the 
flames.*    The  victory  was  complete,  and  gave  them  the 

and  gave  away;  at  length,  his  legs  were  tied  up  behind  his  back,  and, 
after  much  struggling  and  dragging,  he  was  dispatched  with  very  consid- 
erable difficulty.     It  was  a  horrid  sight. 

*  Captain  Hay,  of  the  light  dragoons,  had  been  taken  prisoner  some 
time  before,  and  was  accused  of  having  acted  as  a  commander  of  the 
peasantry  in  that  attack,  and  at  Arklow.  This  report  acquired  strength, 
from  the  circumstance  that  one  of  his  brothers  had  been  hanged  as  a 
rebel,  and  another  of  them  had  been  an  active  insurgent  during  the  occu- 
pation of  Wexford.  Captain  Hay,  however,  was  tried  by  a  court-mar- 
tial, and  fully  acquitted,  on  tne  ground  of  compulsion.  He  also  appeared 
Id  have  saved  the  lives  of  several  loyalists  at  Enniscorthy,  and  »artico- 

30* 


554  RISE    AND   FALL 

possession  of  that  fine  position,  Vinegar  Hill,  and  thi 
total  command  of  an  extensive  country. 

Major  Foot,  advancing  too  confidently  with  a  detach- 
ment to  Oulart,  was  totally  defeated — only  three  of  his 
corps  escaped.  Colonel  Walpole,  an  inexperienced  offi- 
cer, solicited,  and,  as  a  court  favour,  obtained,  a  com- 
mand to  attack  the  insurgent  army  near  Gorey ;  but  he 
was  surprised  by  them  near  that  town;  many  of  the 
troops  were  destroyed — the  Colonel  himself  fell  early  in 
the  action — the  artillery  was  taken — and  the  whole  corps 
were  dispersed,  or  taken  prisoners.  The  town  of  Gorey 
was  sacked  and  burned.  General  Fawcett's  detachment 
was  as  unfortunate.  He  marched  from  Duncannon  fort, 
to  unite  with  other  corps  collecting  to  attack  Wexford : 
but  he  was  himself  attacked  at  the  Three  Rocks  Moun- 
tain ;  all  his  artillery  was  captured ;  he  was  utterly  routed, 
and  with  difficulty  got  back  to  Duncannon,  with  some 
relics  of  his  corps. 

In  Kildare  the  success  was  alternate,  but  in  most  in- 
stances the  regular  troops  had  the  advantage ;  torrents 
of  blood  were  shed,  and  every  idea  of  mercy  seemed  ex- 
ploded ;  acts  of  ferocity,  beyond  belief,  were  committed 
on  both  sides.* 

General  Dundas  confidently  determined  upon  breaking 
a  solid  body  of  pikemen,  by  the  impetuosity  and  weight 
of  his  heavy  cavalry.  The  peasantry,  in  a  deep  close 
column,  and  under  the  ruined  church  of  Old  Kilcullen, 
received  them  on  their  pikes :  two  captains  were  killed, 
with  many  of  the  heavy  cavalry,  and  the  General  escaped 

larly  a  Mrs.  Ogle's  sister,  whom  he  carried  through  the  flames  of  a  burn- 
ing street,  and  a  fire  of  musketry. 

*  It  is  a  singular  fact,  that  in  all  the  ferocity  of  the  conflict,  the  storm- 
ing of  towns  and  of  villages,  women  were  uniformly  respected  by  i« 
insurgents.  Though  numerous  ladies  fell  occasionally  into  their  power, 
they  never  experienced  any  incivility  or  misconduct.  But  the  foreign 
troops  in  our  service  (Horn  peach's)  not  only  brutally  ill-treated,  but  oc- 
casionally shot  gentlewomen.  A  very  respectable  married  woman  in 
Enniscorthy  (Mrs.  Stringer,  the  wife  of  an  attorney)  was  wantonly  shot 
at  her  own  window  by  a  German,  in  cold  blood.  The  rebels  (though 
her  husband  was  a  royalist)  a  short  time  after  took  some  of  those  foreign 
soldiers  prisc^ers,  and  piked  them  all,  as  they  told  them — "just  to  teach 
Vtem  how  to  shoot  ladies."  Martial  law  always  affects  both  sides;  retal- 
iation becomes  the.  law  of  nature  wherever  municipal  laws  are  not  in 
operation ;  it  is  a  remedy  that  should  never  be  resorted  to  but  in  extrem*. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  355 

u?Ti  difficulty.  The  same  body  was  attacked  igain  the 
game  day,  with  artillery,  and  quickly  broken ;  but  not 
till  lanes  had  been  repeatedly  cut  through  them  by 
round  shot. 

The  removal  of  the  troops  into  the  camps  of  Laugh- 
linston  and  the  Naul,  heretofore  mentioned,  gave  rise  to 
one  of  the  most  melancholy  episodes  of  this  history.  At 
Laugh! inston  (seven  miles  from  Dublin)  some  thousand 
men,  mostly  Irish  militia,  were  encamped  by  Lord  Car- 
hampton.  The  United  Irishmen  sent  emissaries  to  the 
camp ;  and  disaffection  was  rapidly  proceeding  amongst 
troops.  It  was  disclosed  to  Government  by  a  Captain 
Armstrong,  of  the  King's  County  Militia,  who  also  did 
what  every  principle  should  have  imperatively  prohibited. 

He  was  prevailed  upon  at  the  Castle,  for  a  reward,  to 
ingratiate  himself,  as  a  brother  conspirator,  amongst  the 
higher  classes ;  and  to  encourage  their  proceedings,  so  as 
to  gain  proofs  of  their  guilt,  through  their  implicit  confi- 
dence in  his  fidelity.  He  then  became  an  evidence  even 
to  death,  against  those  whose  culpability  he  had  encou- 
raged, and  attended  to  execution  the  very  gentlemen 
whom  he  made  victims  to  their  confidence  in  his  integrity. 

Captain  Armstrong  thus  wormed  himself  into  the  con- 
fidence of  the  leaders,  with  the  design  of  betraying  them : 
his  treachery  was  preorganized ;  and  he  proved  himself 
a  worse  man  and  a  more  competent  conspirator  than 
those  whom  he  made  his  victims.  He  had  the  honour 
of  an  officer,  and  the  integrity  of  a  gentleman  to  sustain; 
yet  he  deliberately  sacrificed  both,  and  saw  two  barris- 
ters executed  through  his  treachery. 

VI.  Messrs.  Henry  and  John  Sheares  were  of  the  Irish 
bar,  and  of  a  respectable  family,  Henry,  the  elder,  had  a 
competent  fortune,  and  was  an  excellent  domestic  person, 
with  a  most  amiable  family ;  he  had  received  a  univer- 
sity education,  but  was  not  possessed  of  talent — plain 
and  friendly,  occasionally  warm,  generally  credulous,  and 
always  full  of  prejudices,  his  mind  was  never  strong 
enough  to  resist  his  feelings,  and  though  unexceptionable 
in  private  character,  he  had  neither  capacity,  firmness, 
nor  discretion  for  a  public  life.  The  younger  brother, 
John,  was  tall,  fair,  handsome,  and  of  gentlemanly  ad- 
dress; his  countenance  was  sensible,  and,  firm  to  inrlexi- 


556 


*ISE    AND    FALL 


hility,  with  much  more  ta  ent  than  his  brother,  he  guided 
him  at  his  discretion.  They  were  inseparab  fe  as  brothers, 
and  were  united  by  an  almost  unparalleled  attachment. 
Mr.  John  Sheares,  upon  the  arrest  of  the  others,  became 
one  of  the  executive  directory  of  the  United  Irishmen, 
and,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  Henry  was  a  participa- 
tor, and  aided  in  procuring  emissaries  to  seduce  the  troops 
at  Laughlinston.  There  Captain  Armstrong  became 
acquainted  with  the  two  brothers,  pledged  to  them  his 
friendship,  persuaded  them  that  he  would  sednce  his  own 
regiment,  gained  their  implicit  confidence,  faithfully  ful- 
filled the  counterplot,  devised  secret  meetings,  and  worked 
up  sufficient  guilt  to  sacrifice  the  lives  of  both.  They 
were  arrested,  tried,  on  his  evidence  convicted,  and  were 
hanged  and  beheaded  in  the  front  of  Newgate.  They 
came  hand  in  hand  to  the  scaffold  :  this  was  one  of  the 
most  interesting  trials  in  Ireland. 

It  is  only  justice  to  Lord  Clare,  to  record  an  incident 
which  proves  that  he  was  not  insusceptible  of  humane 
feelings,  and  which  often  led  me  to  believe  that  his  nature 
might  have  been  noble,  had  not  every  feeling  of  modera- 
tion been  absorbed  by  that  ambition,  the  fatal  disappoint- 
ment of  which,  at  length  hastened  his  dissolution. 

By  some  unfortunate  delay,  a  letter  of  Henry  Sheares 
to  me  was  not  delivered  till  eleven  o'clock  of  the  morning 
after  the  trial.  I  immediately  waited  on  Lord  Clare,  he 
read  it  with  great  attention  ;  I  saw  he  was  moved  ;  his 
heart  yielded.  I  improved  on  the  impression ;  he  only 
said :  "  What  a  coward  he  is !  but  what  can  we  do  ?" — he 
paused — "  John  Sheares  cannot  be  spared.  Do  you  think 
Henry  can  say  any  thing,  or  make  any  species  of  disco- 
very, which  may  authorize  the  Lord  Lieutenant  to  make 
a  distinction  between  them?  if  so,  Henry  may  be  re- 
prieved." He  read  the  letter  again,  and  was  obviously 
affected.  I  had  never  seen  him  amiable  before.  "  Go/5 
said  he,  "  to  the  prison ;  the  execution  will  be  deferred 
for  one  hour.  See  Henry  Sheares,  ask  him  this  question 
and  return  to  me  at  Cooke's  office."  I  lost  no  time,  but 
I  found,  on  my  arrival,  that  orders  had  been  given  thai 
noliody  should  be  admitted  without  a  wi  'tten  permission, 
I  instantly  returned  to  the  castle — they  were  all  at  coun 
cil,  Cooke  was  not  in  his  office,  I  was  delayed  severa. 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  357 

minutes.  At  length  the  secretary  returned,  gave  me  the 
order  to  see  them,  and  to  the  sheriff  to  delay  the  execu- 
tion for  one  hour.  I  hastened  to  Newgate,  and  arrived 
at  the  very  moment  that  the  executioner  was  holding  up 
the  head  of  my  old  college  friend,  and  saying,  "  Here  is 
the  head  of  a  traitor."     I  felt  deeply  affected. 

VII.  This  insurrection,  which  commenced  on  the  23d 
of  May,  1798,  and  concluded  in  a  few  months,  produced 
a  greater  effusion  of  hlood,  more  ferocity,  and  more  de- 
vastation than  ever  were  witnessed  in  Ireland  within  an 
equal  period.  Partial  hattles  and  skirmishes  were  inces- 
sant, hut  general  engagements  were  not  numerous. 

It.  was  generally  in  small  bodies  that  the  insurgents 
were  successful.  The  principal  battles  were  those  of 
Arklow,  Gorey,  and  Vinegar  Hill,  and  the  storming  of 
Enniscorthy  and  Ross  by  the  peasantry.  At  Arklow,  h: 
a  regular  line,  the  peasantry  assailed  a  disciplined  army 
in  the  field,  and  the  result  was  a  drawn  battle.  At  Ross, 
after  storming  and  gaining  the  town,  after  ten  hours  in- 
cessant fighting,  they  surrendered  themselves  to  drunk 
enness  and  plunder,  and  were  slaughtered  in  their 
inebriety. 

At  Vinegar  Hill,  the  entrenchments  were  defended  foi 
several  hours,  though  attacked  by  twenty  thousand  regular 
troops,  with  ordnance,  and  the  loss  of  the  insurgents  was 
disproportionately  small.  They  retired  unpursued,  and 
soon  formed  another  army,  and  marched  to  the  veiy 
heart  of  Ireland. 

At  Gorey,  Carnew,  the  Three  Rocks,  and  numerous 
places  where  they  fought  in  ambuscades,  they  always 
succeeded ;  and  had  they  confined  themselves  to  desultory 
attacks  and  partisan  warfare,  they  might  soon  have  de- 
stroyed their  local  enemies  the  yeomen,  and  wearied  and 
exhausted  the  regular  troops.  After  the  storming  of 
Gorey,  had  they  succeeded  in  taking  Arklow,  they  might 
have  marched  to  the  metropolis  in  one  day. 

VIII.  To  protect  Arklow,  therefore,  was  imperatively 
necessary,  yet  it  was  but  poorly  garrisoned,  and  totaUy 
unprovided  with  ammunition  or  provisions.  The  garrison 
were  considerably  less  than  one  thousand  men,  princi- 
pally irregular  troops,  and  not  a  field-work  or  other  pre- 
paration had  been  made  to  defend  the  place.     An  old 


858  RISE    AND    FALL 

barrack,  incapable  of  defence,  was  their  only  fortification, 
four  pieces  of  field  artillery  their  only  ordnance,  and  a 
party  of  the  Ancient  Britons,  commanded  by  Sir  W.  W. 
Wynn  in  person,  and  a  few  yeomen,  their  only  cavalry. 
The  insurgents  had  collected  nearly  thirty  thousand  men 
at  the  ruined  town  of  Gorey,  within  a  few  miles  of  Arklow, 
which  they  boldly  but  indiscreetly  declared  they  would 
storm  the  ensuing  morning.  The  alarm  of  the  metropolis 
at  this  intelligence,  may  be  easily  conceived.  An  imme- 
diate reinforcement  of  the  garrison  of  Arklow  could  alone 
prevent  an  attack  on  Dublin,  and  an  insurrection  of  the 
populace.  The  Cavan  militia,  commanded  by  the  pre- 
sent Lord  Farnham,  were  instantly  despatched  to  succour 
General  Needham,  but  the  distance  being  more  than 
thirty  miles,  they  were  hurried  off  in  every  sort  of  vehicle ; 
and  even  the  carriages  of  the  nobility  and  gentry  were 
seized  or  tendered  for  the  occasion. 

This  was  the  most  regular  engagement  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  insurrection.  The  pikemen  amounted  to 
many  thousands — the  king's  troops  were  under  fifteen 
hundred — the  fire-arms  on  each  side  were  nearly  equal 
in  number,  but  those  of  the  insurgents  were  of  every 
calibre  and  description,  whilst  their  powder  was  carried 
in  horns  or  in  the  pocket,  and  was  but  scantily  supplied. 

The  Cavan  regiment  arrived  at  the  critical  minute. 
The  conflict  was  in  a  level  field  at  the  extremity  of  the 
town  ;  the  royal  infantry  being  in  a  line  on  open  ground, 
with  two  pieces  of  cannon  at  each  wing  ;  the  peasantry, 
with  fire-arms,  were  drawn  up  in  a  line  exactly  parallel, 
with  a  very  low  ditch  in  front,  and  two  pieces  of  artillery 
on  each  Hank ;  small  flags  of  green  and  yellow  waved  in 
every  part  of  their  position.  The  fire  began  as  regularly 
as  between  disciplined  armies — no  movements  were  made 
on  either  side  ;  the  pikemen  formed  a  crescent  on  a  rauge 
of  hills  just  over  the  royalists,  and  waited  for  any  dis- 
order to  rush  down  and  exterminate  them.  An  uninter- 
rupted fire  was  kept  up  by  both  parties  for  some  hours, 
without  any  manoeuvre,  and  with  very  little  comparative 
execution.  At  length  the  insurgents  dismounted  one  of 
the  royal  cannon,  killed  the  gunners,  and  the  battle  was 
becoming  doubtful.  The  left  flank  of  the  royal  army  was 
piotected  by  some  walry  and  houses,  and  the  right  by 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  359 

Iheir  barracks,  and  a  piece  of  artillery  which  commanded 
the  road.  The  peasantry  had  no  pre-arranged  plan  of 
attack,  and  their  immense  body  of  pikemen  remained  in- 
active on  the  eminence,  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the 
scene  of  action.  The  royal  officers  became  alarmed  : 
had  the  insurgents'  ammunition  lasted,  and  the  pikemen 
charged,  the  danger  would  have  been  realised.  General 
Needham,  and  most  of  the  officers  were  disposed  to  retire, 
as  a  matter  of  necessity  ;  but  Colonel  Skerritt,  of  the 
Dumbarton  fencibles,  resolutely  declared  that  his  regi- 
ment never  should  retreat.  A  retrogade  movement 
would  have  given  an  opportunity  for  a  rush  of  the  pike- 
men, which  must  have  ended  in  the  annihilation  of  the 
royal  force.  No  quarter  was  expected  upon  either  side. 
Had  the  royal  troops  advanced,  they  might  have  been 
easily  surrounded  ;  their  alternative  was,  to  succeed  or 
perish.  The  ammunition  of  the  royal  army  began  to 
fail ;  but  fortunately  that  of  the  peasantry  was  first  ex- 
hausted. The  firing  gradually  slackened,  and,  at  length 
a  very  ferocious  attack  was  made  on  the  right  wing,  by 
a  large  body  of  pikemen,  led  by  Father  Murphy ;  a  four- 
oounder  opened  its  fire,  and  Father  Murphy  received  a 
jail  which  tore  him  to  pieces.  The  insurgents,  thus  dis- 
pirited, advanced  no  farther ;  and  after  an  effort  on  the 
left,  repulsed  by  some  Ancient  Britons,  they  began  to  re- 
treat, but  without  precipitation.  The  royal  army  did  not 
think  it  prudent  to  pursue,  but  retired  to  their  barracks, 
whilst  the  peasantry  fell  back,  unmolested,  to  Gorey. 
Thus  concluded  a  battle  by  no  means  the  most  sangui- 
nary, but,  certainly,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  in- 
surrection. Had  the  peasantry  succeeded,  they  would 
have  been  reinforced  every  mile  of  their  march  to  Dublin, 
by  the  excited  population  of  Wexford  and  Wicklow. 
Kiidare,  Meath,  and  Westmeath  were  in  arms,  and  the 
capital  itself  had  more  than  30,000  organized  United 
Irishmen  within  its  walls  ;  and,  however  intrepidly  de- 
fended, must  have  yielded  in  a  river  of  blood  to  the  in- 
numerable hosts  of  its  enthusiastic  assailants.  Their 
failure,  however,  in  the  principal  attacks  in  Kiidare  and 
Wicklow,  had  dispirited  and  disorganized  a  multitude 
without  officers  to  direct  them,  and  Ireland  was  thua 
*aved.     More  than  30,000  peasantry  were  actually  pro- 


,H60  IUSE    AND    FALL 

sent  at  the  battles  of  Ross  and  Arklow  ;  and  Wexford  and 
Wicklow  are  by  no  means  the  most  populous  counties. 
At  a  very  moderate  computation,  there  were,  in  Wexford 
and  Wicklow.  at  least  50,000  effective  insurgents,  either 
under  arms,  or  prepared  to  take  arms,  had  their  measures 
continued  to  be  successful.  Their  courage  and  perseve- 
rance may  be  estimated  by  the  extraordinary  incidents 
of  the  battle  of  Ross,  which  lasted  ten  hours  with  alter- 
nate success,  and  in  which  they  were  finally  conquered, 
pnly  by  their  insubordination,  and  the  incapacity  of  their 
leaders. 

IX.  The  battle  of  Ross,  with  respect  to  its  incidents 
and  extensive  results,  was  one  of  the  most  important  of 
the  insurrection.  Ross  is  surrounded  on  ihree  sides  by 
steep  hills,  and  on  the  fourth  by  a  river,  dividing  it  from 
the  southern  counties,  and  having  a  long  wooden  bridge. 
The  possession  of  Ross,  therefore,  would  open  a  commu- 
nication with  the  southern  insurgents,  who  were  prepared 
to  rise,  en  masse,  the  moment  their  friends  should  occupy 
that  town  ;  and  the  city  of  Waterford,  and  probably  the 
whole  of  the  western  and  southern  counties  would  have 
risen  in  their  favor.  Nearly  30,000  insurgents  assembled 
on  Corbet-Hill,  near  the  town  of  Ross.  Their  General, 
Beauchamp  Bagenal  Harvey,  was,  of  all  men,  probably 
t'ie  most  unfit  for  so  desperate  an  enterprise  ;  his  figure 
*  iminutive,  his  voice  tremulous. 

He  was  a  Protestant  barrister  of  fortune  ;  good  tem- 
pered, and  of  good  private' character ;  and  was  selected 
from  being  lord  of  Bragay  Castle,  and  of  considerable 
demesnes  in  the  county  of  Wexford.  Of  individual 
courage  he  had  sufficient,  but  of  that  manly  heroic  intre- 
pidity which  converts  danger  into  enthusiasm,  and  is  in- 
dispensable to  the  leader  of  such  an  army  and  such  a 
cause,  he  was  altogether  unsusceptible.  The  other  offi- 
cers were  little  better  than  himself;  and  an  army  of 
30,000  intrepid,  persevering  insurgents,  could  not  pro- 
duce one  leader  of  sufficient  tact  or  influence  to  guide 
and  secure  to  them  certain  victory.  Harvey  and  his 
aid-de-camp,  Mr.  Gray,  a  Protestant  attorney,  remained 
upon  a  neighbouring  hill,  inactive  spectators  during  ten 
hours  incessant  fighting. 

The  first  attack  commenced  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morn* 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  dfcl 

ing  on  only  one  entrance  to  the  town,  and  that  the  most 
defensible  by  the  garrison  ;  all  the  others  were  neglected, 
otherwise,  the  garrison  not  being  sufficiently  numerous  to 
defend  all,  the  town  must  have  been  entered  from  several 
quarters.  A  regiment  of  infantry  and  one  of  cavalry- 
sallied  out  to  distract  the  insurgents,  and  prevent  their 
attack  upon  the  other  entrances.  Both  regiments  were 
driven  back  with  great  loss,  the  cavalry  by  a  charge  of 
bullocks  *  and  pikemen,  the  infantry  by  ambuscade  and 
irregular  attacks.  Lord  Mountjoy  fell  at  the  head  of  his 
regiment,  the  Dublin  Militia,  immediately  at  the  gate  ; 
and  the  royalists  and  the  peasantry  entered  Ross  almost 
intermingled.  The  main  street  became  the  scene  of  a  most 
sanguinary  and  protracted  conflict ;  the  royalists  were 
forced  back,  and  their  artillery  taken  and  turned  on  them- 
selves. The  market-house  alone  remained  in  possession 
of  the  troops ;  and  after  a  long  and  bloody  contest  they 
retreated  to  the  bridge,  prepared,  if  necessary,  to  pass  to 
2he  other  side,  and  destroy  the  communication.  Had 
mey  done  this,  they  must  have  marched  through  the  very 
heart  of  an  insurgent  country,  and  all  would  have  been 
cut  to  pieces.  There  is  scarcely  a  trait  of  individual 
courage  which  was  not  exemplified  during  that  contest  ;t 

*  At  this  battle  the  insurgents  practised  a  ruse  de  guerre  useel  origin- 
ally by  the  Romans.  A  regiment  of  heavy  cavalry  had  marched  out,  to 
eharge  them  on  their  first  approach  ;  they  suspected  the  attack,  and  were 
prepared  to  receive  them  by  a  very  unexpected  salutation.  They  had 
cooped  up  in  a  field  near  two  hundred  bullocks.  When  these  beasts  are 
urged,  and  rush  on  in  a  body,  nothing  can  stop  them  ;  a  wall  or  even  a 
house,  they  have  been  known  to  dash  against,  in  their  blind  fury. 
When  the  heavy  cavalry  were  in  a  proper  position  on  the  road,  the 
rebels,  with  their  pikes,  goaded  the  bullocks ;  maddened  by  the  smart, 
they  rushed  to  the  openings  of  the  enclosure,  which  had  been  purposely 
made  for  them  :  nothing  could  withstand  them;  the  cavalry  were  over- 
whelmed ;  man  and  horse  were  overthrown  and  trampled  upon.  Of  such 
as  could  retreat  through  the  gate,  several  met  their  death  from  the  pike- 
men. 

f  The  account  of  this  battle  I  have  had  from  many,  but  from  none  so 
accurately  or  circumstantially  as  from  a  gentlemen  I  have  been  long 
acquainted  with,  Counsellor  Lundyfoot,  son  of  the  eminent  person  of 
that  name.  He  had  some  property  there,  and  curiosity  led  him  u.  Ross, 
to  see  what  was  going  forward ;  just  as  he  got  there  he  found  he  could 
not  get  away  again,  and  was  obliged  to  remain,  and  run  his  chance 
during  the  battle.  He  was  a  member  of  the  barristers'  infantry .  and  con- 
ceived that  no  soldier  should  on  such  occasions  be  inactive ;  he  therefor* 

31 


362  RISE    AND   FALL 

the  battle  occasionally  slackened,  but  never  ceased  for  m 
moment.  The  peasantry,  certain  of  victory,  lost  all  sub- 
ordination ;  and,  in  their  turn,  were  attacked  by  such  of 
the  garrison  as  had  time  to  rally.  Many  were  killed; 
almost  without  resistance ;  the  town  was  set  on  fire,  and 
in  the  midst  of  th(  flames  the  battle  raged  for  hours  most 
violently.  The  royalists  recovered  the  main  street.  The 
insurgents  were  on  the  point  of  being  finally  repulsed, 
when  a  young  gentleman  of  thirteen  years  of  age,  from 
the  town  of  Wexford,  of  the  respectable  family  of  Lett, 
in  that  town,  had  stolen  away  from  his  mother,  and  joined 
Gt.ieral  Harvey  on  Corbet  Hill.  The  boy  saw  the 
disi,  *der  of  the  men,  and  the  incapacity  of  their  leaders, 
and  v7ith  a  boyish  impulse  he  snatched  up  a  standard, 
and  calling  out  "Follow  me  who  dare!"  rushed  down 
the  hill,  two  or  three  thousand  pikemen  rapidly  followed 
him  in  a  tumultuous  crowd,  and  uttering  the  most 
appalling  cries.  In  a  moment  he  was  at  the  gate,  rallied 
his  party,  and  with  his  reinforcement  rushed  upon  the 
garrison,  who,  fatigued  and  astonished  at  the  renewed 
vigour  of  their  enemy,  were  again  borne  down,  and  com- 
pelled with  much  loss,  fighting  step  by  step,  to  retire 
towards  the  bridge.  For  many  hours  the  firing  in  the 
streets  *and  houses  was  incessant;  and  the  peasantry  were 
very  nearly  in  possession  of  the  entire  place,  when  again 
all  subordination  vanished,  and  again  fortune  forsook 
them.  Some  hundred  houses  were  in  a  blaze  ;  the  horror 
was  indescribable.  The  remaining  body  of  the  garrison, 
overcome  by  fatigue,  became  nearly  unable  to  continue 
the  contest. 

The  firing,  however,  continued  till  towards  night,  when 
the  insurgents  who  had  not  entered  the  houses,  having  no 
officers  to  command  them,  retreated  through  the  gate  by 
which  they  had  entered,  half  a  mile  to  Corbet  Hill,  leaving 
some  thousands  of  their  comrades  asleep  in  different 
houses,  or  in  the  streets  to  which  the  flames  had  not  com- 
municated. Of  these,  the  garrison  put  hundreds  to  the 
sword,  without  any  resistance  ;  and  more  than  5000  were 

armed,  acted  as  a  Volunteer,  and  was  in  the  very  midst  ol  the  battle 
during  the  ten  hours  it  continued.  He  described  to  me  the  desperate 
valour  of  the  peasantry,  and  confirmed  to  me  a  s  ory,  nearly  incredible, 
of  theif  ignorance;  namely, an  old  man  thrust;i.&  *  wig  into  the  mouth 
e*  an  adverse  cannon,  to  prevtnt  :ta  3\r,lo*ioii 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  363 

rither  killed  or  consumed  by  the  conflagration.  The 
garrison,  greatly  diminished  and  exhausted  by  ten  hours 
incessant  fighting,  without  refreshments,  lay  down  in  the 
streets,  slumbering  amongst  the  dead ;  and  had  Harvey, 
at  any  hour  before  morning,  returned  with  even  1000 
fresh  men,  every  soldier  might  have  been  slaughtered  j 
resistance  would  have  been  Impossible. 

X.  Vinegar  Hill  is  a  beautiful,  verdant,  low  mountain ; 
the  river  Slaney  rolls  smoothly  at  its  foot  on  the  one  side, 
and  the  large  town  of  Enniscorthy  lies  immediately  under 
its  base  upon  another ;  at  one  point  the  ascent  is  rather 
steep,  on  the  others,  gradual ;  the  top  is  crowned  by  a 
dilapidated  stone  building.  The  hill  is  extensive,  and  com- 
pletely commands  the  town  and  most  of  the  approaches 
to  it ;  the  country  around  it  is  rich,  sufficiently  wooded, 
and  studded  with  country  seats  and  lodges.  Few  spots 
in  Ireland,  under  all  its  circumstances,  can  at  this  moment 
be  more  interesting  to  a  traveller.  On  the  summit  of  this 
hill  the  insurgents  had  collected  the  remains  of  their 
Wexford  army ;  the  number  may  be  conjectured,  from 
General  Lake  deciding  that  20,000  regular  troops  were 
necessary  for  the  attack.  The  peasantry  had  dug  a  slight 
ditch  around  a  large  extent  of  the  base ;  they  had  a  very 
few  pieces  of  small  half-disabled  cannon,  some  swivels, 
and  not  above  two  thousand  fire-arms  of  all  descriptions. 
But  their  situation  was  desperate  ;  and  General  Lake 
considered  that  two  thousand  fire-arms,  in  the  hands  of 
infuriated  and  courageous  men,  supported  by  a  multitude 
of  pikemen,  might  be  equal  to  ten  times  the  number  under 
other  circumstances.  A  great  many  women  mingled  with 
their  relatives,  and  fought  with  fury ;  several  were  found 
dead  amongst  the  men,  who  had  fallen  in  crowds  by  the 
bursting  of  shells. 

The  circumstantial  details  of  that  battle,  however 
interesting,  are  too  numerous  for  this  volume,  a  few,  how- 
ever, are  necessary. 

General  Lake,  at  the  break  of  day,  disposed  his  attack 
in  four  columns,  whilst  his  cavalry  were  prepared  to  do 
execution  on  the  fugitives.  One  of  the  columns  (whether 
by  accident  or  design  is  strongly  debated)  did  not  arrive 
in  time  at  its  station,  by  which  the  insurgents  were 
enabled  to  retreat  to  Wexford,  through  a  country  where 


364  RISE    AND    FALL 

they  could  not  be  pursued  by  cavalry  or  cannon.  It  was 
astonishing  with  what  fortitude  the  peasantiy,  uncovered, 
stood  the  tremendous  fire  opened  upon  the  four  sides  of 
their  position;  a. stream  of  shells  and  grape. was  poured 
on  the  multitude  ;  the  leaders  encouraged  them  by  exhor- 
tations, the  women  by  their  cries,  and  every  shell  that 
broke  amongst  the  crowd  was  followed  by  shouts  of  de- 
fiance. General  Lake's  horse  was  shot,  many  officers 
wounded,  some  killed,  and  a  few  gentlemen  became  in- 
visible during  the  heat  of  the  battle.  The  troops  advanced 
gradually  but  steadily  up  the  hill;  the  peasantry  kept  up 
their  fire,  and  maintained  their  ground,  their  cannon  was 
nearly  useless,  their  powder  deficient,  but  they  died  fight- 
ing at  their  post.  At  length,  enveloped  in  a  torrent  of 
fire,  they  broke,  and  sought  their  safety  through  the 
space  that  General  Need  ham  had  left  by  the  non-arrival 
of  his  column.  They  were  partially  charged  by  some 
cavalry,  but  with  little  execution ;  they  retreated  to  Wex- 
ford, and  that  night  occupied  the  town. 

During  the  battle,  the  pike  and  blunderbuss  were  in 
constant  exercise ;  both  parties  had  committed  great 
atrocities  in  cold  blood,  under  the  miider  term  of  retalia- 
tion. Previous  to  that  battle,  Enniscorthy  had  been 
twice  stormed;  every  street  in  it  had  streamed  with 
blood ;  many  hundred  houses  had  been  burned  ;  and  the 
combats  had  been  hand  to  hand  in  the  midst  of  flames  and 
falling  edifices.  It  is  asserted  that  eighty-seven  wounded 
peasants,  whom  the  king's  army  had  found  on  taking  the 
town,  in  the  market-house,  used  as  an  hospital,  had  been 
burned  alive ;  and  that  in  retaliation  the  insurgents  burned 
above  a  hundred  royalists  in  a  barn  at  Scullabogue. 

Amongst  the  remarkable  and  melancholy  examples  of 
the  abuse  of  martial  law,  and  the  discretionary  power 
given  to  military  officers  in  Ireland,  one  which  occurred 
on  the  taking  of  Wexford  is  a  peculiarly  fit  subject  for 
observation :  Mr.  Grogan,  of  Johnstown  Castle,  a  man 
past  seventy  years  of  age,  of  very  large  fortune,  irre- 
proachable reputation,  with  the  address,  manners,  and 
feelings  of  a  gentleman.  Overstreet  and  John,  his  two 
brothers,  commanded  yeomanry  corps.  The  first  of  them 
was  killed  at  the  head  of  his  corps  (the  Castletown  Ca- 
valry), at  the  battle  of  Arklow.   The  other  was  wounded 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  366 

fet  the  head  of  his  troop  (the  Heathneld  Light  Horse) 
during  Major  Maxwell's  retreat  from  Wexford,  and  upon 
the  recapture  of  Wexford.  The  semblance  of  a  trial  was 
thought  expedient  by  General  Lake,  before  he  could  exe 
cute  a  gentleman  of  so  much  importance  and  fortune. 
His  case  was  afterwards  brought  before  Parliament  upon 
a  Bill  of  attainder,  and  argued  for  three  successive  days, 
and  nearly  nights,  and  evidence  was  produced  clearly  ex- 
onerating him  from  any  voluntary  error.  The  only  charge 
the  Government,  (to  excuse  the  culpability  of  General 
Lake)  could  prove,  was  his  having  been  surrounded  by 
the  insurgent  army,  which  placed  him  under  surveillance, 
and  who,  to  give  importance  to  themselves,  forced  him 
one  day  into  the  town  of  Wexford,  on  horseback,  a  pea- 
sant of  the  name  of  Savage  attending  him,  with  a  blun- 
derbuss, and  orders  to  shoot  him  if  he  refused  to  obey 
their  commands  ;  against  his  will,  they  nominated  him 
a  commissary,  knowing  that  his  numerous  tenantry  would 
be  more  willing  in  consequence  to  supply  them.  He  used 
no  weapon  of  any  description,  too  feeble  even  to  hold  one 
in  his  hand. 

A  lady,  of  the  name  of  Segrave,  gave  evidence  that 
her  family  in  the  town  were  in  want  of  food,  and  that  she 
sent  to  Mr.  Grogan  to  give  her  an  order  for  some  bread, 
which  request,  to  save  her  family  from  starving,  he  reluc- 
tantly complied  with.  Through  that  order,  she  procured 
some  loaves,  and  supplied  her  children ;  and  for  that  act 
of  benevolence,  and  on  that  lady's  evidence,  Mr.  Grogan 
was  sentenced  to  die  as  a  traitor,  and  was  immediately 
hanged  and  beheaded,  when  unable  to  walk  to  the  place 
ot  execution,  and  already  almost  lifeless  from  age,  impri- 
soment,  pain  and  brutal  treatment.  It  appeared  before  Par- 
liament, upon  interrogating  the  President  of  the  Court,  that 
the  members  of  the  Court  Martial  which  tried  him  had  not 
been  sworn,  that  they  were  only  seven  instead  of  thirteen, 
the  usual  number,  that  his  material  witness  was  shot  by 
the  military,  while  on  the  road,  bet  ween  Johnstown  Castle 
and  Wexford,  to  give  evidence  of  Mr.  Grogan's  entire  in- 
nocence ;  and  that,  while  General  Lake  was  making  merry 
at  dinner  (with  his  staff  and  some  members  of  the  Court 
that  condemned  him),  one  of  the  first  gentlemen  in  the 
county  (in  every  point  far  his  superior),  was  hanged  and 

31* 


366  RISE    AND   FALL 

mutilated  before  his  windows.  The  author's  intin.ate 
knowledge  of  Mr.  Cornelius  Grogan  for  many  years  ena- 
bles him  to  assert  most  unequivocally,  and  it  is  but  justice  to 
his  memory  to  do  so,  that,  though  a  person  of  independent 
mind  as  well  as  fortune,  and  an  opposition  member  of  the 
Irish  Parliament,  he  was  no  more  a  rebel  than  his  brothers, 
who  had  signalized  themselves  in  battle  as  royalists,  and 
the  survivor  of  whom  was  rewarded  by  the  same  Govern- 
ment, by  an  unprecedented  Bill  of  attainder  against  that 
unfortunate  gentleman,  long  after  he  was  dead,  by  which 
his  great  estates  were  confiscated  to  the  crown. 

This  Attainder  Bill  was  one  of  the  most  illegal  and  un- 
constitutional acts  ever  promoted  by  any  Government; 
but,  after  much  more  than  ten  thousand  pounds,  costs  to 
crown  officers  and  to  Lord  Norbury,  as  Attorney  General, 
had  been  extracted  from  the  property,  the  estates  were 
restored  to  the  surviving  brother. 

XI.  These  transactions  are  dreadful,  even  to  the  recol- 
lection :  they  were  the  ruin  of  the  nation  and  its  character, 
but  are  only  mentioned  to  give  some  idea  of  that  worst  of 
all  scourges,  civil  war,  and  of  the  most  cruel  of  all  tribu- 
nals, courts  martial,  a  situation  into  which  Mr.  Pitt  craftily 
permitted  the  Irish  nation  to  fall,  in  order  to  promote  his 
purpose  of  a  union.  The  subsequent  administration  oi 
Lord  Cornwallis  leaves  no  ground  of  scepticism  upon  this 
subject. 

The  infliction  of  torture  was  incessant,  and  acts  of  re- 
taliation were  as  frequent.  Gentlemen  were  executed, 
some  with  trials,  others  with  worse  than  none.  The  exe- 
cution of  Sir  Edward  Crosby,  was  a  murder;  that  of  Mr. 
Grogan  a  butchery.  The  Viceroy  had  signed  no  warrants 
for  their  executions ;  he  was  seldom  consulted  respecting 
the  prisoners,  till  their  fate  had  been  decided;  his  conduct 
was  considerate,  where  he  was  not  governed  by  his  council. 

The  insurrection  had  been  nearly  exhausted,  and  Lord 
Camden,  who  was  considered  by  Mr.  Pitt  an  unfit  person 
to  employ  for  his  ulterior  objects,  was  recalled, 


/.  Lard  Mhvardou    4.Lord  GrrnwaMis. 
ZSecretary  Cooke>.  5,John  PkSpot  Huron, 
.">.  Bishop  of  Down  .  dArthurO'Ctm/i/rr. 
7.  Robert  Emmett 


Kenedy,  Fufclisner,  5  Barclay  St NJewYbifc, 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  367 


CHAPTER    XXIV. 

appointment  of  Lord  Cornwallis — His  crafty  conduct — French  invade 
Ireland  in  a  small  number — British  troops  totally  defeated,  their  artil- 
lery all  taken — Races  of  Castlebar — Ninety  militia  men  hanged  by 
Lord  Cornwallis — French  outwit  Lord  Cornwallis — Lord  Jocelyn 
taken  prisoner — French  surrendered — Mr.  Pitt  proceeds  in  his  project* 
of  a  Union — The  subserviency  of  the  Lords — The  Bishops — Bishops 
of  Waterford  and  Down — Political  characters  of  Lord  Cornwallis  and 
Lord  Castlereagh — Unfortunate  results  of  Lord  Comwallis's  conduct 
in  every  quarter  of  the  world — Lord  Castlereagh — Union  proposed — 
Great  splendour  of  the  Chancellor — Celebrated  Bar  Meeting — Mr. 
Saurin — Mr.  Saint  George  Daly — Mr.  Thomas  Grady — Mr.  Grady's 
curious  harangue— Mr.  Thomas  Goold's  speech — Thirty-two  County 
Judges  appointed  by  Lord  Clare — Lord  Clare  opposes  the  Bar — Open- 
ing of  the  session  of  1799 — Lord  Clare's  great  power — Lord  Tyrone's 
character — Seconded  by  Mr.  Fitzgerald — Mr.  John  Ball — His  character. 

I.  Lord  Cornwallis  was  now  selected  to  complete  the 
project  of  a  union,  and  Lord  Castlereagh  was  continued 
as  Chief  Secretary.  His  system  was,  of  all  others,  the 
most  artful  and  insidious  ;  he  affected  impartially,  whilst 
he  was  deceiving  both  parties ;  he  encouraged  the  United 
Irishman,  and  he  roused  the  royalist ;  one  day  he  de- 
stroyed, the  next  day  he  was  merciful.  His  system, 
however,  had  not  exactly  the  anticpated  effect.  Every 
thing  gave  reason  to  expect  a  restoration  of  tranquillity ; 
it  was  through  the  impression  of  horror  alone  that  a  union 
cou/ 1  be  effected,  and  he  had  no  time  to  lose,  lest  the 
cou  itry  might  recover  its  reason. 

A.  portion  of  an  armament,  destined  by  France  to  aid 
the  Irish  insurgents,  had  escaped  our  cruisers,  and  landed 
about  a  thousand  troops  at  Killala  Bay.  They  entered 
Killala  without  opposition,  surprising  the  bishop  and  a 
company  of  parsons  who  were  on  their  visitation.  Nothing 
could  be  better  than  their  conduct,  and  the  bishop,  in  a 
publication  on  this  event,  did  them  ample  justice,  at  the 
expense  of  his  own  translation. 

They  were  joined  by  a  considerable  number  of  pea* 
santry,  unarmed,  unclothed,  and  undisciplined.     But  the 


368  RISE   AND   FALL 

French  did  the  best  they  could  to  render  them  efficient 
After  some  stay  at  Killala,  they  determined  to  march  into 
the  country,  and,  even  with  that  small  force,  they  ex- 
pressed but  little  doubt  of  reaching  the  metropolis. 

Lord  Hutchinson  commanded  the  garrison  of  Castle- 
bar  a  few  miles  from  Killala.  His  force  being  pretty 
numerous,  with  a  good  train  of  artillery,  he  had  no  suspicion 
that  a  handful  of  French  would  presume  to  attack  him. 

II.  General  Lake  with  his  staff  had  just  arrived,  and 
taken  the  command  (as  an  elder  officer),  as  Lord  Hut- 
chinson had  determined  to  march  the  ensuing  day,  and 
end  the  question,  by  a  capture  of  the  French  detachment. 
The  repose  of  the  generals  was  of  short  duration.  Early 
in  the  morning  they  were  roused  by  an  account  that  the 
French  and  peasantry  were  in  full  march  upon  them. 
They  immediately  beat  to  arms,  and  the  troops  were 
moved  to  a  position,  about  a  mile  from  Castlebar,  which, 
to  an  unskilled  person,  setmed  unassailable.  They  had 
scarcely  been  posted,  with  nine  pieces  of  cannon,  when 
the  French  appeared  on  the  opposite  side  of  a  small  lake, 
descending  a  hill  in  columns,  directly  in  front  of  the 
English.  Our  artillery  played  on  them  with  effect.  The 
French  kept  up  a  scattered  fire  of  musketry,  and  took  up 
the  attention  of  our  army  by  irregular  movements.  In 
half  an  hour,  however,  our  troops  were  alarmed  by  a 
movement  of  small  bodies  to  turn  their  left,  which,  being 
covered  by  walls,  they  had  never  apprehended.  The 
orders  given  were  either  mistaken  or  misbelieved  ;  the 
line  wavered,  and,  in  a  few  minutes,  the  whole  of  the 
royal  army  was  completely  routed,  the  flight  of  the  in- 
fantry was  as  that  of  a  mob,  all  the  royal  artillery  was 
taken,  our  army  fled  to  Castlebar,  the  heavy  cavalry 
galloped  amongst  the  infantry  and  Lord  Jocelyn's  light 
dragoons,  and  made  the  best  of  their  way,  through  thick 
and  thin,  to  Castlebar  and  towards  Tuam,  pursued  by 
such  of  the  French  as  could  get  horses  to  carry  them. 

About  nine  hundred  French  and  some  peasants  took 
possession  of  Castlebar  without  resistance,  except  from  a 
few  Highlanders  stationed  in  the  town,  who  were  soon 
destroyed.* 

*  The  native  character  of  the  French  never  showed  itself  more  strong- 
ly than  aftei  this  action.     When  in  full  possession  of  the  large  town  oi 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  369 

This  battle  has  been  generally  called  the  Races  of 
Castlebar.  A  considerable  part  of  the  Lonth  and  Kil- 
kenny regiments,  not  finding  it  convenient  to  retreat, 
thought  the  next  best  thing  they  could  do  would  be  to 
join  the  victors,  which  they  immediately  did,  and  in  one 
hour  were  complp'ely  equipped  as  French  riflemen. 
About  ninety  of  those  men  were  hanged  by  Lord  Corn- 
wallis  afterwards  at  Ballynamuck.  One  of  them  defend- 
ed himself  by  insisting,  "  that  it  was  the  army  and  not  he 
who  were  deserters  ;  that  whilst  he  was  fighting  hard  they 
all  ran  away,  and  left  him  to  be  murdered."  Lord  Joce- 
lyn  got  him  saved.  The  defeat  of  Castlebar,  however, 
was  a  victory  to  the  Viceroy :  it  revived  all  the  horrors 
of  the  rebellion  which  had  been  subsiding,  and  the  deser- 
tion of  the  militia  regiments  tended  to  impress  the  gentry 
with  an  idea,  that  England  alone  could  protect  the  country. 

Lord  Cornwallis  was  supine,  and  the  insurgents  were 
active  in  profiting  by  this  victory  ;  40,000  of  them  were 
preparing  to  assemble  at  the  Crooked  Wood,  in  West- 
meath,  only  42  miles  from  Dublin,  ready  to  join  the 
French  and  march  upon  the  metropolis. 

HI.  The  French  continued  too  long  at  Castlebar,  and 
Lord  Cornwallis  at  length  collected  20.000  troops,  with 
which  he  considered  himself  pretty  certain  of  conquering 
900  men.  With  above  20,000  men,  he  marched  directly 
to  the  Shannon  to  prevent  their  passage,  but  he  was  out- 
manoeuvered  ;  the  insurgents  had  led  the  French  to  the 
source  of  that  river,  and  it  was  ten  days  before  his  Lord- 
ship, by  the  slowest  possible  marches,  (which  he  did  pur- 
posely to  increase  the  public  terror),  reached  his  enemy. 
But  he  overdid  the  matter,  and  had  not  Colonel  Vereker 
(LordGort)  delayed  them  in  a  rather  sanguinary  skirmish 
in  which  he  was  defeated,  it  was  possible  that  they  might 
have  slipped  by  his  Lordship,  and  have  been  revelling  in 
Dublin,  whilst  he  was  roaming  about  the  Shannon :  how 
ever,  he  at  length  overtook  the  enemy.     Lord  JocelyiVs 

Castlebar,  they  immediately  set  about  putting  their  persons  in  the  be§l 
order,  and  the  officers  advertised  a  ball  and  supper  that  night,  for  th« 
ladies  of  the  town,  this,  it  is  said,  was  well  attended;  decorum  in  al] 
points  was  strictly  preserved;  they  paid  ready  money  for  every  thing; 
in  fact,  the  French  army  established  the  French  character  wherever  the/ 
occupied. 


B70  RISE    AND    FALL 

fox-hunters  were  determined  to  retrieve  their  character 
'ost  at  Castlebar  and  a  squadron,  led  by  his  Lordship; 
made  a  bold  charge  upon  the  French  ;  but  the  French 
opened,  then  closed  on  them,  and  they  were  beaten,  and 
his  Lordship  was  made  prisoner. 

The  French  corps,  however,  saw  that  ultimate  success 
was  impossible,  having  not  more  than  nine  hundred  French 
troops,  and  they  afterwards  surrendered  prisoners  of  war 
without  further  resistance,  after  having  penetrated  to  the 
heart  of  the  kingdom.  They  were  sent  to  Dublin,  and 
afterwards  to  France. 

Horrors  now  were  everywhere  recommenced ;  execu- 
tions were  multiplied.*  Lord  Cornwallis  marched  against 
the  peasantry,  still  masters  of  Killala ;  and  after  a  san- 
guinary conflict  in  the  streets,  the  town  was  taken  :  some 
were  slaughtered,  many  hanged,  and  the  whole  district 
was  on  the  point  of  being  reduced  to  subjection,  when 
Lord  Cornwallis  most  unexpectedly  proclaimed  an  ar- 
mistice, and  without  any  terms  permitted  the  insurgents 
freely  to  disperse,  and  gave  them  thirty  days,  either  to 
surrender  their  arms  or  be  prepared  for  slaughter; 
leaving  them  to  act  as  they  thought  proper  in  the  inter- 
val. This  interval  was  terrific  to  the  loyalists ;  the  thirty 
days  of  armistice  were  thirty  days  of  new  horror,  and  the 
Government  had  now  achieved  the  very  climax  of  public 
terror,  on  which  they  so  much  counted  for  inducing  Ire- 
land to  throw  herself  into  the  arms  of  the  protecting 
country.  And  the  first  step  of  Mr.  Pitt's  project  was 
fully  consummated. 

IV.  Mr.  Pitt  now  conceived  that  the  moment  had  ar- 
rived to  try  the  effect  of  his  previous  measures  to  pro- 
mote a  legislative  Union,  and  annihilate  the  Irish  legisla- 
ture. He  conceived  that  he  had  already  prepared  induce- 
ments to  suit  every  temper  amongst  the  Irish  Commons : 
in  that  he  was  partially  mistaken.  He  believed  that  he 
had  prepared  the  Irish  Peers  to  accede  to  all  his  projects ; 
in  that  he  was  successful. 

The  able,  arrogant,  ruthless  bearing  of  Lord  Clare  upon 
the  woolsack,  had  rendered  him  almost  despotic  in  that 
imbecile   assembly ;    forgetting   their    high   rank,   their 

t  His  Lordship  ordered  above  ninety  oi"  the  militia  to  be  immediate]  J 
ttecuU-1. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  371 

rountry  and  themselves,  they  yielded  unresistingly  to  the 
spell  of  his  dictation,  and  as  the  fascinated  bird,  only 
watched  his  eye  and  dropt  one  by  one  into  the  power  of 
the  serpent. 

The  lure  of  translation  neutralized  the  scruples  of  the 
Episcopacy.  The  Bishops  yielded  up  their  conscience  to 
their  interests,  and  but  two  of  the  spiritual  Peers  could 
be  found  to  uphold  the  independence  of  their  country, 
which  had  been  so  nobly  attained,  and  so  corruptly  ex- 
tin  guishnd.  Marly,  bishop  of  Waterford,  and  Dixon, 
bishop  ot  Down,  immortalized  their  name,  and  their  cha- 
racters ;  they  dared  to  oppose  the  dictator,  and  supported 
the  rights  of  Ireland  till  she  ceased  to  breathe  longer  un- 
der the  title  of  a  Nation. 

This  measure,  of  more  vital  importance  than  any  that 
has  ever  yet  been  enacted  by  the  British  legislature,  the 
fatal  consequences  of  which  are  every  day  displaying,  and 
still  range  far  beyond  the  vision  of  short-sighted  states- 
men, was  first  proposed  indirectly  by  a  speech  from  the 
throne,  on  the  22d  January,  1799. 

The  insidious  object  of  that  speech  to  entrap  the  House 
into  a  conciliatory  reply  was  seen  through,  and  resisted 
with  a  vigour  which  neither  the  English  nor  Irish  Go- 
vernments had  ever  suspected.  The  horrors  of  civil  war, 
the  barbarities  practised  on  the  one  side,  and  sanctioned 
on  the  other,  and  the  universal  consternation  of  the  whole 
kingdom,  had,  fortunately  for  Mr.  Pitt,  excited  in  many 
the  fallacious  idea  that  in  the  arms  of  England  only  Ire- 
land could  regain  and  secure  tranquillity. 

This  shallow  principle  influenced  or  deluded  many,  but 
afforded  to  a  greater  number  a  specious  pretence  for  sup- 
porting a  measure  which  their  individual  or  corrupt 
objects  only  induced  them  to  sanction. 

To  do  justice  or  to  detail  the  speeches  on  this  great 
•abject,  comprising  as  much  eloquence  as  ever  yet  ap- 
peared in  any  legislative  assembly,  would  be  far  too 
extensive  a  task  for  this  volume.  Short  abstracts  only 
can  now  be  given  here,  and  the  leading  arguments  con- 
densed, so  as  to  bring  the  subject  in  all  its  important 
bearings  before  the  capacity  of  every  reader. 

V.  Ireland  was  now  reduced  to  a  state  fitted  to  receive 
propositions  for  a  Union.     The  loyalists  were  stik  strug- 


872  RISE    AND    FALL 

gling  through  the  embers  of  a  rebellicn,  scarcely  extin- 
guished by  the  torrents  of  blood  which  had  been  poured 
upon  them  ;  the  insurgents  were  artfully  distracted  be 
tween  the  hopes  of  mercy  and  the  fear  of  punishment ; 
the  Viceroy  had  seduced  the  Catholics  by  delusive  hopes 
of  emancipation,  whilst  the  Protestants  Avere  equally 
assured  of  their  ascendency,  and  every  encouragement 
wan  held  out  to  the  sectarians.  Lord  Cornwallis  and 
Lord  Castlereagh  seemed  to  have  been  created  for  such 
a  crisis  and  for  each  other.  An  unremitting  perseverance, 
an  absence  of  all  political  compunctions,  an  unqualified 
contempt  of  public  opinion,  and  a  disregard  of  every  con- 
stitutional principle,  were  common  to  both.  They  held 
that  "  the  object  justifies  the  means ; "  and,  unfortunately, 
their  private  characters  were  calculated  to  screen  their 
public  conduct  from  popular  suspicion. 

Lord  Cornwallis,  with  the  exception  of  the  Union, 
which  renders  him  the  most  prominent  person  in  Irish 
history,  had  never  succeeded  in  any  of  his  public  mea- 
sures. His  failure  in  America  had  deprived  England  of 
her  colonies,  and  her  army  of  its  reputation ;  his  catas 
trophe  at  Yorktown  gave  a  shock  to  the  King's  mind, 
from  which,  it  is  supposed,  he  never  entirely  recovered. 
In  India  he  defeated  Tippo  Saib,  but  concluded  a  peace 
which  only  increased  the  necessity  of  future  wars.  Weary 
of  the  sword,  he  was  sent  as  a  diplomatist  to  conclude 
the  peace  of  Amiens;  but,  out-manceuvered  by  Lucien 
Buonaparte,  his  Lordship's  treaty  involved  all  Europe  in 
a  war  against  England.  He  had  thought  to  conciliate 
Lucien,  by  complimenting  the  First  Consul,  and  sacri 
ficed  his  sovereign's  honorary  title  as  King  of  France, 
which  had  been  borne  since  the  conquest  of  the  Edwards 
and  the  Henrys,  while  he  retained  the  title  of  Defender 
of  the  Faith,  corruptly  bestowed  by  the  pope  on  a  tyrant.* 
This  was  the  instrument  now  employed  by  Mr.  Pitt  to 
effect  the  Union. 

*  The  title  of  the  King  of  England  then  was — "  George  III.  King  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  and  so  forth. 
It  is  very  observable,  that  so  distinct  did  the  Kings  of  England  consider 
the  two  nations,  that  in  three  royal  titles  France  was  made  to  intervene 
therein  between  England  and  Ireland.  It  was  owing  to  the  act  of  settle- 
ment, and  not  through  any  gift  of  heaven,  that  the  House  of  Hanovtf 
mounted  the  throne  of  Great  Britain. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  373 

VI.  Lord  Castlereagh  had  teen  more  than  seven  years 
Mi  the  Irish  Parliament,  but  was  undistinguished.  In 
private  life,  his  honourable  conduct,  gentlemanly  habits, 
and  engaging  demeanour,  were  exemplary.  Of  his  public 
life,  the  commencement  was  patriotic,  the  progress  cor- 
rupt, and  the  termination  criminal.  His  first  public  essay 
was  a  motion  to  reform  the  Irish  Parliament,  and  his  last 
to  annihilate  it.  It  is  impossible  to  deny  a  fact  so  noto- 
rious. History,  tradition,  or  the  fictions  of  romance, 
contain  no  instance  of  any  minister  who  so  fearlessly  de- 
viated from  all  the  principles  which  ought  to  characterize 
the  servant  of  a  constitutional  monarch,  or  the  citizen  of 
a  free  country.  Incontestible  facts  prove  the  justice  of 
this  observation. 

The  rebellion  had  commenced  on  the  23d  of  May, 
1 798,  and  on  the  22d  of  January,  1799,  a  union  was  pro- 
posed. The  commercial  propositions  had  taught  Mr. 
Pitt  that,  in  a  period  of  tranquillity,  nothing  could  be 
effected  with  the  Irish  Parliament  by  fraud  or  delusion. 
But  for  the  terrors  of  the  rebellion,  the  proposal  of  a 
Union  might  have  united  all  parties  against  the  Govern- 
ment ;  and  Lord  Corn  wallis's  unexampled  warfare  against 
nine  hundred  Frenchmen,  was  evidently  intended  more 
for  terror  than  for  victory. 

Mr.  Pitt's  project  was  first  decidedly  announced  by  a 
pamphlet,  written  by  Mr.  Edward  Cooke,  the  Under- 
Secretary,  entitled,  "  Arguments  for  and  against  a  Union 
considered."  It  was  plausibly  written,  and  it  roused  the 
people  from  their  confidence  that  no  English  minister 
dared  propose,  or  Irishman  abet,  a  destruction  of  that 
independence  which  Ireland  had  possessed  less  than 
eighteen  years.  Mr.  Cooke  was  promptly  replied  to,  by 
a  pamphlet,  entitled,  "  Cease  your  Funning,"  a  master- 
piece of  its  kind,  which,  in  the  garb  of  wit  and  irony, 
conveyed  the  most  skilful  reasoning,  and  rendered  Mr. 
Oooke's  publication  perfectly  ridiculous.  The  author 
was  then  most  deservedly  high  at  the  Irish  bar,  and  is 
now  its  first  law  dignitary.  It  was  sent  to  press  five  days 
after  the  first  line  was  written.  Above  a  hundred  pamph- 
lets were  published  on  both  sides  of  the  question;  but  it 
was  some  time  before  the  whole  nation  could  believe  sucb 
a  measure  durst  be  attempted. 


B7'i  RISE    AND    FALL 

VI L  The  Bar  in  Ireland  was  formerly  not  a  working 
trade,  but  a  proud  profession,  filled  by  gentlemen  of  birth 
and  fortune,  who  were  then  residents  in  their  country. 
The  Government,  the  Parliament,  every  municipality 
then  felt  the  influence  of  that  profession,  whose  principal 
pride  it  always  was  to  defend  the  Constitution.  The 
number  of  offices  connected  with  the  law  were  then  com- 
paratively few.  The  estimable  Lord  Lifford,  at  his  death, 
was  succeeded  on  the  woolsack  by  Lord  Clare,  who  im- 
mediately gave  the  utmost  latitude  to  his  arbitrary  temper 
and  despotic  principles  as  Chancellor. 

He  commenced  his  office  with  a  splendour  far  exceed- 
ing all  precedent.  He  expended  four  thousand  guineas 
or  a  state  carriage ;  his  establishment  was  splendid,  and 
:iis  entertainments  magnificent.  His  family  connections 
absorbed  the  patronage  of  the  State,  and  he  became  the 
most  absolute  subject  that  modern  times  had  seen  in  the 
British  islands.  His  only  check  was  the  Bar,  which  he 
resolved  to  corrupt.  He  doubled  the  number  of  the 
bankrupt  commissioners  ;  he  revived  some  offices,  created 
others,  and,  under  pretence  of  furnishing  each  county 
with  a  local  judge,  in  two  months  he  established  thirty- 
two  new  offices,  of  about  six  or  seven  hundred  pounds 
per  annum  each.  His  arrogance  in  court  intimidated 
many  whom  his  patronage  could  not  corrupt ;  and  he  had 
no  doubt  of  overpowering  the  whole  profession. 

A  meeting  of  the  Bar,  however,  to  discuss  the  Union, 
was  called  on  the  9th  of  December,  1799,  at  the  Exhibi- 
tion Room,  William-street,  and  Mr.  Smith,  as  the  fathei 
of  the  Bar,  was  voted  in  the  chair.  Among  those  who  had 
called  the  meeting  were  fourteen  of  the  King's  counsel— 
E.  Mayne,  W.  Saurin,  W.  C.  Plunket,  C.  Bushe,  W 
Sankey,  B.  Burton,  J.  Barrington,  A.  M'Cartney,  G 
O'Farrell,  J.  O'Driscoll,  J.  Lloyd,  P.  Burrowes,  R.  Jebb, 
and  H.  Joy,  Esquires. 

Mr.  Saurin  opened  the  debate.  His  speech  was  vapid, 
and  his  resolution  unpointed ;  but  he  had  great  influence 
in  his  profession.  He  was  a  moderate  Huguenot,  and 
grandson  of  the  great  preacher  at  the  Hague ;  he  was 
an  excellent  lawyer,  and  an  amiable,  pious  Christian.  He 
was  followed  by  Captain  Spencer,  of  the  barristers 
cavalry. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  375 

Mr.  Saint  George  Daly,  a  briefless  barrister,  was  the 
first  supporter  of  the  Union.  Of  all  men  he  was  the 
least  thought  of  for  preferment ;  but  it  was  wittily  ob- 
served, "  that  the  Union  was  the  first  brief  Mr.  Daly  had 
spoken  from."     He  moved  an  adjournment. 

Mr.  Thomas  Grady  was  the  Fitzgibbon  spokesman — 
a  gentleman  of  independent  property,  a  tolerable  lawyer, 
an  amatory  poet,  a  severe  satirist,  and  an  indefatigable 
quality-hunter.  He  had  written  the  " Flesh  Brush"  for 
Lady  Clare  ;  the  "  West  Briton,"  for  the  Union ;  the 
"  Barrister,"  for  the  Bar ;  and  the  "  Nosegay,"  for  a 
banker  at  Limerick,  who  sued  him  successfully  for  a 
libel. 

"  The  Irish,"  said  Mr.  Grady,  "  are  only  the  rump  of 
an  aristocracy.  Shall  I  visit  posterity  with  a  system  of 
war,  pestilence,  and  famine  ?*  No !  no  !  give  me  a 
Union.  Unite  me  to  that  country  where  all  is  peace, 
and  order,  and  prosperity.  Without  a  Union  we  shall 
see  embryo  chief-judges,  attorneys  general  in  perspective, 
and  animalcula  Serjeants.  All  the  cities  of  the  south  and 
west  are  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  between  the  rest  of  the 
world  and  Great  Britain  ;  they  are  all  for  it — they  must 
all  become  warehouses  :  the  people  are  Catholics,  and 
they  are  all  for  it,"  (fee.  &c.  &c.  Such  an  oration  as  Mr. 
Grady's  had  never  before  been  heard  at  a  meeting  of 
lawyers  of  Europe. 

Mr.  John  Beresford,  Lord  Clare's  nephew  and  purse- 
bearer,  followed,  as  if  for  the  charitable  purpose  of  taking 
the  laugh  from  Mr.  Grady,  in  which  he  perfectly  suc- 
ceeded, by  turning  it  on  himself.  Mr.  Beresford  aftei- 
wards  became  a  parson,  and  is  now  Lord  Decies. 

Mr.  Goold  said — "  There  are  40,000  British  troops  in 
Ireland,  and  with  40,000  bayonets  at  my  breast,  the 
minister  shall  not  plant  another  Sicily  in  the  bosom  of 
the  Atlantic.     I  want  not  the  assistance  of  divine  inspi- 

*  Nothing  could  be  more  unfortunate  than  this  crude  observation  of 
Mr.  Grady,  as  the  very  three  evils,  war,  pestilence,  and  famine,  which 
he  declared  a  union  would  avert,  have  since  visited,  and  are  still  visiting 
the  unioned  country;  which  has  received  aid  from  England,  to  avert  de- 
population by  that  famine  which  the  result  of  that  Union  was  a  leading 
cause  of;  and,  inoculated  with  the  late  plague  from  Great  Britain,  tltey 
aw  now  declared  in  a  state  of  war  by  the  British  legislature. 


STG  RISE    AND    FALL 

ration  to  foretell,  for  I  am  enabled  by  the  visible  and  un- 
erring demonstrations  of  nature  to  assert,  that  Ireland 
was  destined  to  be  a  free  and  independent  nation.  Our 
patent  to  be  a  state,  not  a  shire,  comes  direct  from  heaven. 
Tlw  Almighty  has,  in  majestic  characters,  signed  the 
great  charter  of  bur  independence.  The  great  Creator 
of  the  world  has  given  our  beloved  country  the  gigantic 
outlines  of  a  kingdom.  The  God  of  nature  never  in- 
tended  that  Ireland  should  be  a  province,  and  by  G — - 
she  never  shall." 

The  assembly  burst  into  a  tumult  of  applause ;  a  repe- 
tition of  the  words  came  from  many  mouths,  and  many 
an  able  lawyer  swore  hard  upon  the  subject.  The  divi- 
sion was — 

Against  the  Union,    ....     166 
In  favour  of  it,      .....      32 

Majority,       .     .     .     134 

VIII.  Thirty-two  was  the  precise  number  of  the 
county  judges,  and  of  this  minority  the  following  persons 
were  afterwards  rewarded  for  their  adherence  to  Lord 
Clare  :— 

List  of  Barristers  who  supported  tfte    Union,  and  their  rspectivt 
rewards. 

IS     Annum. 

1    Mr.   Charles  Osbotii,   appointed  a  Judge  of  the  King's 

Bench,  .....  £3300 

2.  Mr.  Saint  John  Daly,  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  King's 

Bench,        ......  3300 

3.  Mr.  William  Smith,  appointed  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  3300 

4.  Mr.  M'Cleland,  appointed  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  -  3300 

5.  Mr.  Robert  Johnson,  appointed  Judge  of  the  Common 

Pleas,  -  -  -  -  -  .        3300 

6.  Mr.  William  Johnson  appointed  Judge  of  the  Common 

Pleas,          ......  3300 

7.  Mr.  Torrens,  appointed  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas,         -  3300 

8.  Mr.  Vandeleur,  appointed  a  Judge  of  the  King's  Bench,     •  3300 

9.  Mr.  Thomas  Maunsell,  a  County  Judge,  -  -  600 
10.  Mr.  William  Turner,  a  County  Judge,  -  -  600 
I  i    Mr.  John  Scholes,  a  County  Judge,          ...  600 

12.  Mr.  Thomas  Vickers,  a  County  Judge  ...  600 

13.  Mr.  J.  Homan,  a  County  Judge,  -             -             •  600 

14.  Mr.  Thomas  Grady,  a  County  Judge,  -             -            «  600 

15.  Mr  John  Dwj  er,  a  County  Judge,  -            -            .  600 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION. 


377 


16.  Mr.  George  Leslie,  a  County  Judge, 

17.  Mr.  Thomas  Scott,  a  County  Judge, 

18.  Mr.  Henry  Brook,  a  County  Judge, 

19.  Mr.  James  Geraghty,  a  County  Judge, 

20.  Mr.  Richard  Sharkey,  a  County  Judge, 

21.  Mr.  William  Stokes,  a  County  Judge, 

22.  Mr  William  Roper,  a  County  Judge, 

23.  Mr.  C.  Garnet,  a  County  Judge, 

24.  Mr.  Jemison,  a  Commissioner  for  the  distribution  of  one 

million  and  a  half  Uni^n  compensation. 

25.  Mr.  Fitzgibbon  Henchy,  Commissioner  of  Bankrupts, 

26.  Mr.  J.  Keller,  Officer  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,   - 
27    Mr.  P.  W  Fortescue,  M.  P.  a  secret  pension, 

28.  Mr.  W.  Longfield,  an  officer  in  the  Custom  House, 

29.  Mr.  Arthur  Brown,  Commission  of  Inspector, 

30.  Mr.  Edmund  Stanley,  Commission  of  Inspector, 

31.  Mr.  Charles  Ormsby,  Council  to  Commissioners  Value, 

32.  Mr.  William  Knott,  M.  P.  Commission  of  Appeals, 

33.  Mr.  Henry  Deane  Grady,  Council  to  Commissioners  Value 

34.  Mr.  John  Beresford,  his  father  a  title. 


Annum 
<£600 
600 
600 
600 
600 
600 
600 
600 

1200 
400 
500 
400 
500 
800 
800 

5000 
800 

5001 


Soon  after  this  decision,  Sir  Jonah  Barrington  resigned 
his  commission  as  an  officer  of  the  Barrister's  Cavalry, 
and  the  corps  shortly  after  ceased  to  act. 

"  Letter  from  Sir  Jonah  Barrington  to  Captain  Saurm 
Barristers'  Cavalry." 

"  Merrion  Square,  January  20th,  1799 

"  PerrrK  me  to  resign,  through  you,  the  commission 
which  )  hold  in  the  Lawyers'  Cavalry ;  I  resign  it  with 
the  regret  of  a  soldier,  who  knows  his  duty  to  his  King, 
yet  feels  his  duty  to  his  country,  and  will  depart  from 
neither  but  with  his  life. 

"  That  blind  and  fatal  measure  proposed  by  the  Irish 
Government,  to  extinguish  the  political  existence  of  Ire- 
land to  surrender  its  legislature,  its  trade,  its  dearest 
lights,  and  proudest  prerogatives,  into  the  hands  of  a 
British  minisier,  and  a  British  council,  savours  too  much 
of  that  foreign  principle,  against  the  prevailing  influence 
of  which  the  united  powers  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
are  this  moment  combating,  and  as  evidently  throws  open 
to  the  British  empire  the  gate  of  that  seductive  political 
innovation,  which  has  already  proved  the  grave  of  half 
the  governments  of  Europe. 

32* 


378  RISE    AND    PALL 

"  Consistent  therefore,  with  my  loyalty  and  my  oath,  1 
can  no  longer  continue  subject  to  the  indefinite  and  un- 
foreseen commands  of  a  military  government,  which  so 
madly  hazards  the  integrity  of  the  British  empire,  and 
existence  of  the  British  constitution,  to  crush  a  rising 
nation,  and  aggrandize  a  despotic  minister. 

"  Blinded  by  my  zealous  and  hereditary  attachment  to 
the  established  government  and  British  connection,  I  saw 
not  the  absolute  necessity  of  national  unanimity,  to  secure 
constitutional  freedom,  I  see  it  now,  and  trust  it  is  not 
yet  too  late  to  establish  both. 

"  I  never  will  abet  a  now  developed  system,  treacherous 
and  ungrateful,  stimulating  two  sects  against  each  other, 
to  enfeeble  both,  and  then  making  religious  feuds  a  pre- 
text for  political  slavery. 

"  Rejecting  the  experiment  of  a  reform,  and  recom- 
mending the  experiment  of  a  revolution. 

"  Kindling  catholic  expectation  to  a  blaze,  and  then 
extinguishing  it  for  ever. 

"Alternately  disgusting  the  rebel  and  the  royalist,  by 
indiscriminate  pardon,  and  indiscriminate  punishment. 

"  Suspending  one  code  of  laws,  and  adjudging  by 
another  without  authority  to  do  either ;  and  when  the 
country,  wearied  by  her  struggles  for  her  King,  slumbers 
to  refresh  and  to  regain  her  vigour,  her  liberty  is  treach 
erously  attempted  to  be  bound,  and  her  pride,  her  security, 
and  her  independence,  are  to  be  buried  alive  in  the  tomb 
of  national  annihilation. 

"  Mechanical  obedience  is  the  duty  of  a  soldier,  but 
active  uninfluenced  integrity  the  indispensable  attribute 
of  a  legislator,  when  the  preservation  of  his  country  is  in 
question,  and  as  the  same  frantic  authority,  which  me- 
iitates  our  civil  annihilation,  might  in  the  same  frenzy 
meditate  military  projects  from  which  my  feelings,  my 
principles,  and  my  honour  might  revolt,  I  feel  it  right  to 
separate  my  civil  and  military  functions  ;  and,  to  secure 
the  honest  uninterrupted  exercise  of  the  one,  I  relinquish 
the  indefinite  subjection  of  the  other. 

"  I  return  the  arms  I  received  from  government — I  re- 
ceived them  pure,  and  restore  them  not  dishonoured. 

u  I  shall  now  resume  my  civil  duties  with  zeal  and 
with  energy,  elevated  by  the  hope,  that  the  Irish  Parlia* 


0F    THE    IRISH    NATION.  379 

■sent,  true  to  itself,  and  honest  to  its  country,  will  nevei 
assume  a  power  extrinsic  of  its  delegation,  and  will  con- 
vince the  British  nation  that  we  are  a  people  equally  im- 
oregnable  to  the  attacks  of  intimidation,  or  the  shameless 
iractice  of  corruption. 

"  Yours  (fee 

"JONAH  BARRINGTON, 
"  Lieut.  L.  Cavalry. 
"  To  William  Saurin,  Esq. 
Commandant  Lawyers'  Corps." 

The  Right  Honourable  James  Fitzgerald,  then  prime- 
frwjeant,  was  dissmissed  from  office,  having  peremptorily 
rei'used  to  vole  for  the  Union.  The  office  of  prime-ser- 
jeant,  unknown  in  England,  in  Ireland  took  precedence 
01  the  Attorney  and  Solicitor  General.  The  emoluments 
were  very  great ;  Mr.  Saint  George  Daly  was  immedi- 
ately rewarded  by  that  office,  to  the  duties  of  which  he 
was  totally  incompetent,  never  having  been  in  any  con- 
siderable practice  at  the  bar. 

A  meeting  was  then  called  to  express  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
the  thanks  of  his  profession  for  his  disinterested  patriot- 
ism, never  was  liiere  a  more  just  and  honourable  tribute 
paid  to  an  honest  public  character. 

The  bat  had  also  determined,  that  the  precedence  in 
Ihe  courts  btiould  bo  continued  to  Mr.  Fitzgerald;  to  this 
Lord  Claie  would  not  accede,  and  he  treated  the  subject 
with  great  ariogance  in  his  court.  That  session  con- 
cluded without  any  other  meeting  of  the  profession. 

The  day  after  that  debate,  Mr.  Saint  George  Daly  drew 
up  a  protest  of  the  minority,  some  of  whom  refused  to 
sign  it ;  he  got  some  substitutes,  so  as  to  keep  up  his 
number  of  thirty-two,  but  not  one  person  of  professional 
eminence,  of  public  character,  or  independence,  appeared 
in  the  whole  number ;  it  was  universally  ridiculed,  but 
Mr.  Daly  carried  his  object — his  own  promotion. 

Five  of  the  debatts  on  the  Union  in  the  Irish  Com- 
mons comprised  every  thing  of  the  first  importance  upon 
the  subject :  of  these,  three  took  place  in  January,  1799, 
whilst  men  were  impressed  with  the  horrors  of  the  rebel- 
lion and  the  fears  of  a  French  invasion.  The  debates  of 
1800  were  after  the  Parliament  had  been  packed  through 


580  RISE    AND    FALL 

the  Place  Bill.  The  competence  of  Parliament  to  relh> 
quish  the  Constitution,  and  their  own  existence,  was  dis- 
cussed with  extraordinary  ability. 

IX.  The  first  debate  took  place  on  the  22nd  Ji  nuary, 
1799,  and  lasted  till  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the 
23rd,  or  twenty-two  hours.  The  Government  obtained 
a  majority  of  only  one  and  that  by  the  palpable  seduction 
of  Mr.  Fox.  The  second  debate  commenced  at  five 
o'clock  on  the  same  day,  and  continued  till  late  in  the 
morning  of  the  24th,  when,  the  country  being  roused,  the 
Treasury  Bench  was  unexpectedly  defeated. 

The  speech  from  the  Viceroy,  delivered  on  the  open* 
ing  of  the  session,  which  gave  rise  to  the  debate  of  22nd 
January,  recommended — "  the  unremitting  industry  with 
which  our  enemies  persevere  in  their  avowed  design  of 
endeavouring  to  effect  a  separation  of  this  kingdom  from 
Great  Britain,  must  have  engaged  your  particular  atten- 
tion, and  His  Majesty  commands  me  to  express  his  anx- 
ious hope  that  this  consideration,  joined  to  the  sentiment 
of  mutual  affection  and  common  interest,  may  dispose 
the  Parliaments  in  both  kingdoms  to  provide  the  most 
effectual  means  of  maintaining  and  improving  a  con- 
nection essential  to  their  common  security,  and  of  consoli- 
dating as  far  as  possible  into  one  firm  and  lasting  fabric, 
the  strength,  the  power  and  the  resources  of  the  British 
empire."  The  address  to  that  speech,  almost  an  echo, 
was  moved  by  Lord  Tyrone,  who  thus  stamped  for  him- 
self an  eternal  impression  on  the  annals  of  Ireland.  He 
was  the  eldest  son  of  the  Marquis  of  Waterford,  a  keen 
and  haughty  nobleman,  possessed  of  that  local  influence 
which  rank,  extensive  connections,  unlimited  patronage, 
and  ostentatious  establishments  are  almost  certain  to  ac- 
quire: inflated  with  aristocratic  pride  and  blinded  by 
egotism,  he  became  a  powerful  instrument  of  Lord  Claret 
ambition,  whilst  he  conceived  that  he  was  only  gratifying 
his  own.  Lord  Clare,  at  that  period,  had  covered  the 
surface  of  the  nation  with  the  partisans  of  the  Beresfords 
and  himself,  and  no  family  ever  possessed  so  many  high 
and  lucrative  employments ;  they  had  no  talent,  no  public 
services,  no  political  honesty,  which  should  have  entitled 
them  to  the  authority  they  exercised  over  their  sovereigu 
ind  country. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  38J 

Lord  Tyrone,  an  automaton  of  Lord  Clare,  possessed 
plain  manners,  an  open  countenance,  a  slothful  unculti- 
vated mind,  unsusceptible  of  any  refined  impressions,  or 
patriotic  feelings ;  the  example  of  his  relatives  gave  him 
no  stimulus  beyond  that  of  lucrative  patronage.  What- 
ever were  his  individual  opinions  upon  the  Union,  his 
vapid,  disingenuous,  and  arrogant  speech  evinced  that 
he  was  not  calculated  to  give  weight  to  his  family :  his 
speech  had  been  written  by  his  friends,  and,  concealing 
it  in  the  crown  of  his  hat,  he  took  a  glance  at  it  when  at 
a  loss :  the  exhibition,  on  such  a  subject,  was  too  dis- 
gusting to  be  ridiculous :  Lord  Clare,  on  this  occasion, 
exhibited  the  voracity  of  his  ambition.  The  ancient  and 
proud  house  of  Beresford  were,  on  that  night,  cringing 
as  the  vassals  of  an  arrogant  and  splendid  upstart. 

The  address  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Robert  Fitzgerald, 
of  Corkbeg,  an  elderly  country  gentleman ;  he  had  an 
honest  character,  blunt,  candid  manners ;  and  though  he 
had  not  talent,  he  could  deliver  himself  with  some  strength 
aud  with  the  appearance  of  sincerity.  His  speech  on 
this  occasion  was  short  and  feeble.  He  had  been  art- 
fully seduced  as  a  lure  to  the  country  gentlemen,  by 
Lord  Cornwailis's  assuring  him  that,  in  the  event  of  the 
Union,  a  royal  dock-yard  would  be  built  near  Cork, 
which  would  double  the  value  of  his  estates. 

In  eveiy  debate  upon  that  measure,  it  was  insisted 
upon  that  the  Parliament  was  incompetent,  even  to  en- 
tertain the  question  of  the  Union ;  such  was  the  opinion 
of  Mr.  Saurin,  since  Attorney  General ;  Mr.  Plunket, 
since  Lord  Chancellor ;  Serjeant  Ball,  the  ablest  lawyer 
of  Ireland ;  Mr.  Fitzgerald,  Prime  Sergeant  of  Ireland ; 
Mr.  Moore,  since  a  Judge ;  Sir  John  Parnell,  then  Chan- 
cellor of  the  Exchequer ;  Mr.  Bushe,  since  Chief  Justice ; 
and  Lord  Oriel,  the  then  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons.  Nearly  every  unbribed  or  uninfluenced  member 
of  the  learned  profession  adopted  the  doctrine  of  which 
these  learned  and  able  men  were  the  unqualified  organs. 
Lord  Glenbervie,  in  his  famous  speech  in  favour  of  tha 
Union,  in  the  English  House  of  Commons,  in  1800,  ex- 
pressed his  surprise  that  Messrs.  Saurin,  Plunket,  and 
Harrington,  could  reason  upon  so  untenable  a  position. 
He  admitted   their   sincerity,   but  considered  them   not 


RISE   AMD  FALL 

clear  in  their  intellects.     His  own  speech  was  splen 

y  printed,  but  was  miserably  heavy.    The  Irish  Union 

materially  changed  the  representation  of  England,  and 

altered  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Scotch  treaty ;  Ireland, 

however,  was  alone  disfranchised. 

Mr.  John  Ball,  Member  for  Drogheda,  who  gave  his 
unqualified  opinion  as  to  the  legal  and  constitutional  in- 
capacity of  the  Commons  to  enact  an  Union,  was  the 
ablest  lawyer  of  his  day,  and  one  of  the  purest  characters, 
public  and  private,  that  had  ever  flourished  in  Ireland; 
amiable  and  consistent  in  every  station  and  in  every  ca- 
pacity, combining  spirit  and  mildness,  fortitude  and  mo- 
deration ;  he  was  cast  in  one  of  the  finest  moulds  of 
firmness  and  patriotism.  During  his  progress  from  com- 
parative obscurity  to  the  attachment  and  highest  esteem 
of  his  profession,  and  of  the  public,  he  evinced  an  inde- 
pendence above  all  temptation.  Though  the  ablest 
lawyer  of  his  day  he  was  passed  over  iu  all  Lord  Glare's 
proaurtions. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  E€8 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

Hit  three  leading  arguments  used  in  Parliament  m  favour  of  a  Union— 
Arguments  of  the  Anti- Unionists — Not  England  which  quelled  the 
insurrection — English  militia  never  acted  in  Ireland — Mr.  William 
Smith  supports  the  Union — Corrupt  conduct  of  Mr.  Trench  and  Mr 
Fox — Mr.  Trench  palpably  gained  over — Mr.  Trench  recanted  what 
he  had  a  few  moments  before  declared — The  Place  Bill  and  its  unfor- 
tunate effects— Mr.  Fox  created  a  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  for  his 
tergiversation — Originally  a  Whig — Made  a  false  declaration  to  avoid 
being  counted — Effect  of  the  Place  Bill — His  second  deception — Con- 
duct of  Mr.  Cooke  and  Admiral  Pakenham — Mr.  Marshall's  disgrace- 
ful conduct — Debate  commenced — Great  popularity  of  the  Speaker — 
Lord  Castlereagh's  policy — Sir  John  Parnell  denied  the  competence  ol 
both  the  King  and  the  Parliament  to  enact  a  Union — Mr.  Tighe  the 
same — Great  effect  of  Mr.  Ponsonby's  speech — Remarkable  agitation — 
Description  of  the  scene — Lord  Castlereagh's  violent  speech — Attack 
Ml  Mr.  Ponsonby — Mr.  Ponsonby's  sarcastic  reply — Lord  Castle- 
reagh's desperation — Mr.  John  Egan  attacks  Mr.  William  Smith — Sir 
Laurence  Parsons  made  a  most  able  and  eloquent  speech — Mr.  Fred- 
erick Falkiner  nothing  could  corrupt — Prime  Sergeant  Fitzgerald  dis- 
missed — Mr.  Plunket's  speech — Spirited  speech  of  Col.  O'Donnell — 
Second  shameful  tergiversation  of  Mr.  Trench,  created  Lord  Ashtown 
— Most  important  incident  in  the  annals  of  Ireland — State  of  the 
House  of  Commons — Mr.  Fortescue's  fatal  speech — Mr.  French  and 
Lord  Cole  seceded — John  Claudius  Beresford — Extraordinary  change 
in  the  feelings  of  the  House — Sarcastic  remark  of  Sir  Henry  Caven 
dish — Great  popularity  of  the  Speaker — Joy  and  exultation  of  the 
people — Singular  anecdote  of  Mr.  Martin — Meeting  of  the  Lords — 
Their  infatuation — Conduct  of  Lord  Clare — Unpopularity  of  the  Irish 
Peers — Two  Bishops,  Down  and  Limerick,  opposed  him — Character 
of  the  Bishop  of  Down — Commission  of  Compensation — Subsequent 
proceedings  of  the  Viceroy  and  Lord  Castlereagh — Ruinous  conse* 
quence  of  Mr.  Fortescue's  conduct— Mistaken  conduct  of  the  Anti 
Unionists — Their  embarrassment — Bad  effects  of  Mr.  Fortescue's  con- 
duct— The  Catholics— State  of  parties. 

I.  It  would  be  impossible  to  do  justice  to  the  brilliant 
eloquence,  and  unanswerable  reasoning,  by  which  this 
measure  was  combated.  Even  a  short  abstract  of  the 
speeches  delivered  on  that  momentous  question  would 
swell  this  volume  beyond  its  intended  limits :  those 
speeches  will  be  the  subject  of  a  future  publication. 


584  RISE    AND    FA* 

At  present,  it  must  suffice  to  state  the  abstract  points  or. 
which  the  arguments  of  Government  for  annexation  wu 
founded,  and  those  by  which  they  were  so  ably,  and  un 
answerably  refuted.     First,   the   distracted  state  of  th« 
Irish  Nation,  its  religious  dissensions,  and  the  conseque.. 
danger  of  a  separation,  unless  protected  from  so  imminen. 
a  peril,  by  the  incorporation  with  Great  Britain,  and  th» 
incapacity  of  the  Irish  legislature  alone  to  avert  the  dan 
gers    of   the    country,   and   preserve    the   constitution 
Secondly,  the  great  commercial  advantages  of  a  Uniou 
which  must  eventually  enrich  Ireland,  by  an  extensioi 
of  its  commerce,  the  influx  of  British  capital,  and  th« 
confidence  of  England  in  the  stability  of  its  institution* 
when  guaranteed  by  the  Union.     Thirdly,  the  Govern 
ment  pressed  with  great  zeal  the  example  of  Scotlanc 
which  had  so  improved,  and  become  so  rich  and  pros 
perous,  after   its  annexation  ;  a  precedent  which   mus1 
convince  the  Irish  of  the  incalculable  advantages,  which 
must  ensue  from  a  similar  incorporation. 

Many  other  arguments,  but  of  a  minor  description 
were  urged  by  the  purchased  partisans  of  Government 
But  the  leading  points  which  elicited  the  splendid  elo- 
quence, the  reasoning  and  the  high  spirit  of  its  oppo 
nents,  were  exemplified  by  the  argument  of  Mr.  George 
Ponsonby. 

II.  Sir  Lawrence  Parsons,  and  many  others  in  reply 
not  only  animated,  but  convinced  the  assembly ;  the  facts 
were  too  strong  to  be  refuted,  that  the  country  had  beer 
worked  up  by  the  English  minister  to  terrify  the  Irish 
gentry  into  a  resubmission  to  whose  shackles  from  which 
the  spirit  of  the  Volunteers,  and  of  the  nation,  had  but  a 
few  years  before  released  them.  They  asked  what  could 
the  Union  do,  which  could  not  be  done  without  it  ? 

That  there  was  no  species  of  aid,  no  auxiliary  powei 
which  England  could  afford  to  Ireland,  either  to  restore 
or  secure  her  tranquillity,  that  Ireland  had  not  fully  within 
her  own  reach  and  power.  She  had  men — she  had  means 
— she  had  arms — she  had  spirit — she  had  loyalty — all  in 
her  domestic  circle  sufficient  to  restore  her  to  peace, 
which  had,  for  a  moment,  been  interrupted  by  the  machi- 
nations of  those  who  would  now  take  ad  vantage  of  theii 
own  treachery.     The  Irish  Parliament  had  within  hei 


OF    THE     fftl8£l     NATION.  385 

own  walls  the  power  of  reconciling  religious  differences, 
restoring  peace  or  putting  down  insurrection,  far  more 
effectually  than  the  English  Government  could  pretend 
to  possess. 

It  was  argued  that  the  insurrection,  first  organized  and 
fostered  hy  Mr.  Pitt,  and  protracted  by  Lord  Cornwaliis, 
had  been  suppressed  by  the  active  zeal  and  measures  of 
the  Irish  Parliament ;  and  that  the  introduction  of  foreign 
and  mercenary  Germans,  to  immolate  the  Irish,  instead 
of  tending  to  extinguish,  added  fuel  to  the  conflagration, 
and  excited  the  strongest  feelings  of  retaliation ;  nor 
could  the  people  of  independent  Ireland  brook  the  id<  a 
nf  being  cut  down  by  Welshmen. 

III.  It  was  not  to  the  arms  of  England,  but  to  the  dis- 
tinguished loyalty  of  the  Irish  Commons,  and  the  prompt 
and  vigorous  measures  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  that  the 
speedy  termination  of  that  insurrection  was  to  be  attri- 
buted. The  English  Militia  were  brought  over,  after 
the  contest  had  nearly  ended,  and  never  fired  a  shot  in 
Ireland.  They  conducted  themselves  with  decorum  and 
due  discipline,  and  returned  to  England  with  at  least  as 
good  a  character  as  they  left  it.  The  German  mercena- 
ries who  were  wantonly  imported,  as  if  to  teach  barbarity 
to  the  Irish  insurgents,  amply  experienced  by  their  own 
blood  the  expertness  of  their  pupils,  and  only  aggravated 
mat  people  whom  they  had  been  brought  to  conquer. 

The  argument  therefore,  that  the  Irish  legislature  had 
not  sufficient  power  to  protect  itself,  was  unfounded  and 
fallacious,  and  only  invented  to  keep  up  and  augment  the 
terrors  of  the  Irish  gentry. 

The  second  ground  of  argument  used  by  the  supporters 
of  the  Union,  great  commercial  advantages,  appeared 
still  more  fallacious;  its  deception  was  too  palpable  to 
deceive  the  most  ignorant  of  the  people. 

IV.  The  proposers  of  the  Union  were  asked,  what  were 
the  commercial  advantages  which  Ireland  could  possibly 
gain  by  a  Union,  that  she  might  not  equally  attain  through 
her  own  Parliament  without  one  ?  She  was  an  indepen- 
dent nation,  she  had  an  independent  legislature,  she  might 
regulate  her  own  tariffs  and  conduct  her  commerce  by  hei 
own  statutes  ;  the  reciprocal  connection  of  the  two  conn- 

33 


RISE    AKD    PALL 

tries  was  an  equal  object  to  the  commercial  interests  of 
both. 

The  non-importation  and  non-consumption  resolutions 
of  Ireland  had  once  brought  back  the  English  monopolists 
to  their  reason  ;  the  same  power  remained  with  the  Irish 
people.  If  she  could  resist  commercial  restraints  in  1782, 
with  tenfold  more  facility  she  could  resist  them  in  1800; 
she  could  trade  with  more  success,  because  she  had  since 
learned  the  rudiments  of  commerce,  from  a  participation 
in  which  the  avarice  of  monopolists  and  the  unjust  jea- 
lousies of  Great  Britain  had  theretofore  excluded  her. 

The  crafty  prediction  that  English  capital  would  flow 
into  Ireland,  when  a  Union  was  effected,  was  a  visionary 
deception.  For  more  capital  would  be  annually  with- 
drawn from  Ireland  by  the  emigration  of  the  landed  pro- 
prietors in  consequence  of  Union,  than  could  be  gained  by 
any  accession  of  British  capital.  Ireland  was  an  agricul- 
tural country  ;  her  natural  fertility  pointed  out  to  her  the 
true  source  of  her  internal  employment  and  the  proper 
subjects  of  her  external  commerce  ;  and  when  the  famine 
which  the  slightest  stagnation  of  trade  causes  amongst 
the  manufacturers  of  the  first  towns  of  England,  the  de- 
crepitude of  their  meagre  operatives,  the  wretched  enerva- 
ting slavery  to  which  the  necessity  of  the  parents  and  the 
brutality  of  the  manufacturer  condemn  the  infants  of  that 
nation,  are  considered,  it  would  make  a  sufficient  reply  to 
either  the  certainty  or  the  consequence  of  British  capital. 

V.  The  third  and  most  deceptions  argument  of  the 
Union  supporters,  because  the  most  plausible,  was  the 
precedent  of  Scotland,  and  the  great  advantages  derived 
by  her  in  consequence  of  her  Union. 

Of  all  the  false  reasoning,  mis-stated  facts,  fallacious 
premises,  and  unfounded  conclusions,  that  any  position 
ever  was  attempted  to  be  supported  on,  the  arguments 
founded  on  the  Scottish  precedent  were  the  most  errone- 
ous, and  no  deception  ever  was  more  completely  and 
fully  detected  than  by  the  speeches  made  in  the  Irish 
Parliament  in  1799  and  1800,  and  by  several  able  pam- 
phlets, which,  at  that  period,  flowed  in  full  tide  upon  the 
public* 

•  Two  pamphlets,  and  a  speech  of  Mr.  Goold  at  the  Bar  meeting 
published  in  1799,  go  very  ably  into  all  those  subjects 


«T   THE    IRISH    NATION.  387 

These  replies,  being  founded  on  matters  of  fact  and  at- 
tested by  incontrovertible  records,  put  at  once  a  decisive 
conclusion  to  every  argument  deduced  by  the  advocates 
of  Union,  from  that  subject. 

First,  as  to  matter  of  fact,  Scotland  and  Ireland  in  their 
relation  with  England,  stood  on  grounds  diametrically 
opposite  to  each  other  on  every  point  that  could  warrant 
a  Union  on  the  one  side,  or  reject  it  on  the  other. 

Scotland  and  England  forming  only  one  Island,  divided 
by  a  frontier,  many  parts  of  which  a  man  could  step  over, 
had  ever  been  in  a  state  of  sanguinary  warfare.  The 
facility  of  invasion  on  both  sides,  left  no  moment  of  a 
certain  undisturbed  tranquillity  to  either.  Their  inroads 
were  incessant,  their  reconciliations,  only  the  forerunner 
of  new  contests,  interrupted  by  short  intervals  of  p3ace, 
until  the  accession  of  Mary.  She  had  been  Queen  of 
France,  and  on  her  return  to  her  native  country,  intro- 
duced a  French  connection  with  Scotland,  which  added  to 
the  excitement  of  both  nations,  and  naturally  increased 
the  apprehensions  of  England  from  the  power  of  a  neigh- 
bour, so  supported  as  Scotland  then  must  have  been. 

The  two  crowns  were  united  in  the  person  of  James 
the  First ;  and  in  the  reign  of  Charles,  the  Scottish  army 
renounced  their  allegiance  and  sold  their  King,  and  sur- 
rendered him  to  his  enemies,  and  eventually  to  the  exe- 
cutioner. It  was  considered  by  King  William  III.,  when 
he  usurped  the  British  throne,  that  if  they  so  acted 
by  one  King,  they  might  do  so  by  another,  and  his  san- 
guinary conduct  towards  that  country,  still  widened  the 
breach  between  the  two  nations.  At  length  the  reign  of 
Anne  brought  the  question  of  Union  forward,  not  as  in 
Ireland,  a  mere  voluntary  discussion,  but  one  of  absolute 
necessity. 

VI.  Had  Anne  died  childless,  the  crowns  must  have 
been  severed,  and  that  of  Scotland,  by  descent,  would 
have  gone  to  the  Scottish  Duke  of  Hamilton,  as  Han 
over  was,  on  the  demise  of  his  late  Majesty,  separatee' 
from  England.  This  important  fact  puts  an  end  to  all 
comparisons  between  the  relative  state  of  the  two  coun- 
tries. 

The  Scottish  Parliament,  to  put  an  end  to  all  doubtt 
on  the  subject  of  separation,  passed  an  Act  entitled  thi 


588  RISE    AND    FALL 

Act  of  security.  By  that  statute,  the  Scottish  Parliament 
enacted  that  the  crown  of  Scotland  should  never  be  worn 
by  the  same  Monarch  as  that  of  England.  By  the  Irish 
Parliament  it  was  enacted  that  the  two  crowns  should 
"  ever"  be  worn  by  the  same  Monarch  and  never  dis- 
united. 

VII.  Thus  it  incontestibly  appears  by  an  Act  of  Scot- 
land herself,  that  without  a  Scottish  Union  England  and 
Scotland  though  the  same  island,  must  in  a  short  space 
of  time  have  been  constitutionally  severed,  and  governed 
by  different  and  distinct  monarchs  for  ever,  whereas  Ire- 
land, though  a  different  and  distinct  island,  with  a  great 
intervening  sea,  had  decided  the  very  reverse  of  Scotland, 
and  had  united  herself  indissolubly  and  voluntarily  to 
England,  by  a  mutual  federative  compact,  both  crowns 
to  be  for  ever  worn  by  the  same  Monarch. 

How  the  supporters  of  the  Irish  Union,  therefore,  could 
have  the  face  to  call  in  the  Scottish  Union  as  a  prece- 
dent, to  show  the  necessity  of  an  Irish  Union,  can  only 
be  accounted  for  by  that  voluntary  blindness,  and  pre- 
meditated absence  of  all  candour  and  liberality,  which 
are  the  inseparable  companions  of  political  delinquency. 

But,  in  fact,  the  supporters  of  an  Irish  Union  were 
themselves  the  greatest  enemies  to  British  connection,  for 
mis  clear  and  obvious  reason  ;  the  Scottish  Union  was  a 
„yiatter  of  state  necessity  ;  the  connection  of  England  and 
kfeland  a  mutual  international  compact,  and  as  such 
equally  binding,  sacred,  and  inviolable,  on  both  sides ; 
and  as  the  principle  of  all  international  as  well  as  indi- 
vidual contracts,  is  binding  just  so  long  as  the  mutual 
compacts  are  adhered  to.  Such  a  mutual,  sacred,  and 
international  compact,  voluntarily,  constitutionally,  and 
legally  guaranteed  by  both  legislatures,  confirmed  by  the 
King  of  both  countries  in  his  double  capacity,  and  touch- 
ed by  his  sceptre,  had  been  enacted  and  did  exist  between 
England  and  Ireland  long  previous  to  the  measure  of  a 
Union,  so  pressed  on  Ireland  by  England  ;  such  a  Union 
was  therefore  a  direct  unequivocal  infraction,  of  that  in- 
ternational treaty,  and  federative  compact,  the  mutual 
and  inviolable  adherence  to  which,  in  all  its  provisions, 
was  the  only  valuable  consideration  to  Ireland. 

It  was  truly  argued,  that  in  this  point  of  view,  there* 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  389 

fore  no  siniil  irity  existed  between  the  position  of  Scotland 
and  of  Ireland,  when  the  Irish  nobles  were  cashiered  of 
their  hereditary  honour,  and  the  Irish  people  plundered 
of  two  thirds  of  their  constitutional  representation. 

Till.  Another  fact  stated,  and  most  ably  reasoned  on, 
during  the  debates  on  the  Irish  Union  to  prove  the  absur- 
dity of  the  attempted  comparison,  was  that  the  Scottish 
and  Irish  Parliaments,  at  that  period,  had  in  their  organi 
zation  and  proceedings  no  similitude  whatsoever ;  the 
Lords  and  Commons  Of  Scotland  formed  but  one  chamber, 
the  representatives  of  the  people  (such  as  they  were)  and 
the  Peers  called  the  hereditary  counsellors  of  the  crown 
sat  mingled  and  voted  together  promiscuously  ;  nothing 
like  the  British  constitution  even  in  theory  existed  in 
Scotland  :  church,  state,  and  legislation  had  no  analogy; 
two  countries,  therefore,  possessing  such  incongruous 
materials  of  legislation,  and  a  species  of  imperium  in 
imperio,  entirely  inconsistent  with  the  constitution  of  the 
superior  nation,  could  not  continue  to  exist  in  the  same 
island,  without  the  daily  probability  of  collision,  and  the 
danger  of  hostilities,  aided  by  the  facility  of  invasion  by 
either  country  ;  this  condition  imperatively  required  some 
means  to  avert  so  probable  and  imminent  a  danger  to  both 
countries. 

No  such  dangers,  however,  existed  as  to  Ireland ;  and 
if  she  had  not  been  politically  excited  by  the  British 
minister,  and  by  the  example  of  England  and  Scotland, 
or  even  after  that  excitement  had  subsided,  and  put  an  end 
to,  had  she  been  permitted  to  rest,  and  regain  her  tran- 
quillity and  vigour,  and  proper  measures  had  been  then 
adopted  to  continue  that  tranquillity,  no  country  on  earth 
had  more  capabilities,  and  no  country  in  Europe  would 
have  been  more  prosperous,  tranquil,  and  happy,  than 
misgoverned  Ireland. 

The  grand  and  fundamental  point,  which  was  then 
urged,  reasoned  upon,  and  which  never  hasrand  never 
can  be  refuted,  was  the  incompetence  t  f  Parliament  to 
betray  its  trust.  Whilst  the  first  elements  of  the  British 
constitution  exist,  that  principle  is  its  surest  protection ; 
the  entire  incompetence  of  representatives  elected  by.tlie 
people,  as  their -delegated  trustees,  tc  represent  them  in 
the  great  national  inquest,  and  as  surh  trustees, > and 

33* 


390  RISE    AND    FALL 

guardians,  to  preserve  the  rights  and  constitution  so 
entrusted  to  them,  inviolate  ;  and  at  the  expiration  of  the 
term  of  that  trust,  deliver  back  their  trust  to  their  con- 
stituents, as  they  received  it,  to  be  replaced  in  theii  own 
hands,  or  of  other  trustees  for  another  term.  But  they 
had,  and  could  have  no  power  to  betray  their  trust, 
convert  it  to  their  own  corrupt  purposes,  or  transfer  the 
most  valuable  of  all  funds,  an  independent  constitution, 
the  integrity  of  which  they  became  trustees  solely  for  the 
purpose  of  protecting. 

This  being  a  fundamental  principle  of  British  law,  is 
placed  under  the  protection  of  the  Judges ;  and  the  very 
essence,  first  principle  and  element  of  British  equity,  is 
placed  under  the  protection  of  the  Chancellor.  That  high 
functionary,  in  his  double  capacity,  of  the  first  judge  of 
the  country,  and  also  the  adviser  of  the  King  in  all  cases 
within  his  jurisdiction,  is  bound  to  support  by  authorities, 
that  principle  which  forms  the  only  safeguard  to  the 
British  Constitution. 

IX.  Many  of  the  ablest  lawyers  of  1799  and  1800 
justly  estimated  for  their  deep  knowledge,  great  talents, 
and  incorruptible  integrity,  gave  both  in  and  out  of  Par- 
liament unqualified  and  decided  opinions,  which  are  too 
important  not  to  be  recorded ;  they  entirely  denied  the 
competence  of  the  Irish  Commons,  to  pass  or  even  to 
receive  any  act  of  Union  extinguishing  their  own  existence 
and  betraying  the  trusts  they  were  delegated  to  protect. 
When  the  names  of  Saurin,  Ponsonby,  Plunket,  Ball, 
Bushe,  Curran,  Burrowes,  Fitzgerald,  A.  Moore,  &c.  are 
found  supporting  that  doctrine  by  their  learning,  theii 
public  character,  and  their  legal  reputation ;  and  such 
men  as  Grattan,  Parsons,  Forbes,  Parnel,  O'Hara,  &c.  &c. 
anited  with  Corry,  Clements,  Caulfield,  Cole,  Kings- 
aorough,  &c.,  and  the  flower  of  the  young  Irish  nobles,  in 
/he  Commons  House  of  Parliament ;  it  is  impossible  not 
io  accede  to  a  doctrine,  supported  by  every  principle  of 
(aw.  equity,  and  constitution. 

This  great  fact,  therefore  (and  the  irrefragable  autho- 
rities on  which  it  rests  are  repeated,  and  spread  over  many 
parts  of  this  short  History),  necessarily  produces  a  deduc- 
tion^ more  intrinsically  important,  and  involving  mow 
jrraye  considerations,  than  any  other  that  can  arise  upoi 


Or    THE    IRISH     NATIOK.  391 

this  subject.  From  these  principles,  it  follows  as  a 
corollary,  that  the  Act  of  Union  carried  by  such  means, 
was  in  itself  a  nullity  ab  initio,  and  a  fraud  upon  the  then 
existing  constitution  ;  and  if  a  nullity  in  1800,  it  is  incon- 
trovertible that  nothing  afterwards  did,  or  possibly  could, 
validate  it  in  1833. 

No  temporary  assent,  or  in  this  case  submission,  could 
be  deduced  as  an  argument,  no  lapse  of  time,  unless  by 
proscription  (beyond  which  the  memory  of  man  runneth 
not),  can  ever  establish  any  Act  originally  illegal;  no 
limitation  through  lapse  of  time,  can  bar  the  rights  and 
claims  of  the  crown,  there  is  no  limitation,  through  lapse 
of  time,  to  the  church,  no  limitation  through  lapse  of  time, 
can  bar  the  chartered  right  of  even  a  petty  corporation ; 
and  a  fortiori,  no  lapse  of  time  can  legalize  any  act  hostile 
to  the  rights  of  a  free  people,  or  extinguish  the  legislature 
of  an  independent  nation.  In  that  point  of  view,  there- 
fore, no  legislative  union  ever  was  constitutionally  enacted 
between  the  two  countries. 

But  considering  that  question  in  another  point  of  view, 
it  is  the  invariable  principle  of  all  international  law,  that 
the  infraction  of  a  solemn  treaty,  on  the  one  side,  dis- 
penses with  any  adherence  to  the  same  treaty  by  the  other, 
of  course,  annuls  both,  and  leaves  the  contracting  parties 
in  statu  quo,  as  they  respectively  stood  before  the  treaty, 
and  it  was  therefore  argued  by  those  able  men,  that  the 
renunciation  act  of  the  23d  George  III.,  "recognizing 
the  unqualified  independence  of  Ireland,  and  expressly 
stipulating  and  contracting  that  it  should  endure  for  ever," 
was  the  very  essence,  and  consideration.,  of  the  inter- 
national and  federative  treaty  ;  and  through  its  infraction 
by  England,  both  countries  stood  in  the  very  same  state 
pc  at  the  period  when  England  repealed  her  own  statute 
of  George  I.,  and  admitted  its  unconstitutionality,  and  her 
own  usurpation,  Ireland,  of  course,  remained  in  the  same 
position  as  she  stood  at  that  period. 

X.  From  all  these  considerations  it  inevitably  follows 
that  if  through  force,  or  fraud,  or  fear,  or  corruption,  ii 
enacting  it,  the  Union  was  null,  then  any  act  of  the  Ira 
perial  Parliament,  repealing  the  Act  of  Union,  would  be 
in  fact  only  repealing  a  nullity,  and  restoring  to  Ireland  a 
legislature  she  never  had  been  constitutionally  deprived 


492  RISK    AND    FALL 

of.  It  was  admitted  that,  had  the  infraction  of  the  fed* 
rative  treaty  been  the  act  of  Ireland,  then  this  reasoning 
would  have  lost  its  validity;  but  the  contrary  is  direct 
and  indisputable 

The  Union  propositions  came  from  England  herself 
they  were  rejected  ;  she  returned  to  the  charge,  and  forced 
them  upon  Ireland,  though  at  the  same  time  the  English 
Parliament  had  solemnly  pledged  the  honour,  both  of 
themselves,  and  their  sovereign,  for  the  eternal  support  of 
Its  independence,  and  the  federative  treaty. 

These  arguments,  and  many  more,  were  used  both  in 
and  out  of  Parliament,  to  arrest  the  progress  of  that  des- 
tructive and  faithless  measure,  but  in  vain ;  however,  two 
great  events,  so  long  and  so  violently  resisted  for  more 
than  a  century,  have  lately  been  accomplished ;  which 
give  rise  to  constitutional  questions,  and  have  materially 
changed  the  state  both  of  the  people  and  the  legislature, 
roused  Ireland  from  her  torpor,  and  brought  forward 
claims  which  had  so  long  lain  dormant.  And  it  is  by  the 
late  measures  of  England  herself,  that  the  Irish  people 
have  been  led  to  consider  that  the  nation  was  only  in  a 
slumber,  and  her  legislature  only  in  abeyance. 

XI.  These  grave  and  embarrassing  points  of  constitu- 
tional law,  were  by  various  speeches  and  pamphlets  com- 
bated by  Mr.  William  Smith  (the  present  Baron,)  who 
lent  the  whole  power  of  his  able,  and  indefatigable  genius, 
to  prove  the  omnipotence  of  Parliament,  and  combat  all 
the  reasoning  of  those  distinguished  men,  who  have  been 
heretofore  alluded  to:  particularly  Mr.  Foster,  against 
whose  doctrine  he  wrote  a  long  and  laboured  pamphlet. 

Baron  Smith's  ideas  and  reasoning  are  so  metaphysi- 
cally plaited  and  interwoven,  that  facts  are  lost  sight  of 
;n  the  multiplicity  and  minuteness  of  theories  and  dis- 
tinctions, and  ordinary  auditors,  after  a  most  learned, 
eloquent,  and  argumentative  charge,  or  argument,  are 
seldom  able  to  recollect  a  single  sentence  of  either,  (the 
dogmas  excepted,)  after  they  are  out  of  the  Court  House. 
In  ail  his  arguments,  as  to  the  omnipotence  of  the  Irish 
Parliament  to  surrender  its  legislature,  he  manufactures 
his  theories,  as  if  the  Irish  Commons  submitted  willingly 
to  prostitution,  and  argued  in  principle,  that  if  niemliera 
were  purchased,  it  was  in  a  market  overt,  and  that  tin 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  VH 

unconstitutionality  of  the  sale  merged  in  the  omnipotent 
majority  of  the  purchaser. 

r  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  learned  Baron,  who  ia 
always  able,  and  frequently  four  days  in  the  week  patri- 
otic, should  in  1800  have  accepted  a  seat  on  the  Bench, 
as  a  premium  for  his  share  of  the  omnipotency.  The 
English  people  would  have  considered  the  Baron's  rea- 
soning, for  the  extinction  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  in  a 
very  different  point  of  view,  if  it  had  been  used  by  him 
to  prove  the  expediency  of  removing  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, to  legislate  in  Dublin. 

XII.  A  very  remarkable  incident  during  the  first  night'e 
debato  occurred  in  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Luke  Fox  and  Mr. 
Trench,  of  Woodlawn,  afterwards  created  LordAshtown. 
Th^ se  were  the  most  palpable,  undisguised  acts  of  public 
tergiversation  and  seduction  ever  exhibited  in  a  popular 
assembly.  They  afterwards  became  the  subject  of  many 
speeches  and  of  many  publications;  and  their  consequences 
turned  the  majority  of  one  in  favour  of  the  Minister. 

It  was  suspected  that  Mr.  Trench  had  been  long  in 
negociation  with  Lord  Castlereagh,  but  it  did  not  in  the 
early  part  of  that  night  appear  to  have  been  brought  to 
any  conclusion,  his  conditions  were  supposed  to  be  too 
extravagant.  Mr.  Trench,  after  some  preliminary  obser- 
vations, declared,  in  a  speech,  that  he  would  vote  against 
the  Minister,  and  support  Mr.  Ponsonby's  amendment, 
This  appeared  a  stunning  blow  to  Mr.  Cooke,  who  haj 
been  previously  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Trench.  He 
was  immediately  observed  sideling  from  his  seat  nearer  to 
Lord  Castlereagh.  They  whispered  earnestly,  and,  as  if 
restless  and  undecided,  both  looked  wistfully  towards  Mr. 
Trench.  At  length  the  matter  seemed  to  be  determined 
on.  Mr.  Cooke  retired  to  a  back  seat,  and  was  obviously 
endeavouring  to  count  the  house,  probably  to  guess  if 
they  could  that  night  dispense  with  Mr.  Trench's  services. 
He  returned  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  they  whispered,  again 
looked  most  affect ionately  at  Mr.  Trench,  who  seemed 
unconscious  that  he  was  the  subject  of  their  consideration. 
But  there  was  no  time  to  lose,  the  question  was  approach- 
ing, all  shame  was  banished,  they  decided  on  the  terms, 
and  a  significant  and  certain  glance,  obvious  to  every 
body,  convinced  Mr.  Trench   that  his  conditions  wti* 


394  RISE    AND    PALL 

Agreed  to.  Mr.  Cooke  then  went  and  sat  down  by  hn 
side  ;  an  earnest  but  very  short  conversation  took  place; 
a  parting  smib  completely  told  the  house  that  Mr.  Trench 
was  that  moment  satisfied.  These  surmises  were  soon 
verified.  Mr.  Cooke  went  back  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  a 
congratulatory  nod  announced  his  satisfaction.  But  could 
any  man  for  one  moment  suppose  that  a  Member  of  Par 
liament,  a  man  of  very  large  fortune,  of  respectable 
family,  and  good  character,  could  be  publicly,  and  with- 
out shame  or  compunction,  actually  seduced  by  Lord 
Castlereagh,  in  the  very  body  of  the  house,  and  under 
the  eye  of  two  hundred  and  twenty  gentlemen  ?  Yet 
this  was  the  fact.  In  a  few  minutes  Mr.  Trench  rose,  to 
apologize  for  having  indiscreetly  declared  he  would  sup- 
port the  amendment.  He  added,  that  he  had  thought 
better  of  the  subject  since  he  had  unguardedly  expressed 
himself ;  that  he  had  been  convinced  he  was  wrong,  and 
would  support  the  Minister. 

Scarcely  was  there  a  member  of  any  party  who  was 
not  disgusted ;  it  had,  however,  the  effect  intended  by  the 
desperate  purchaser,  of  proving  that  Ministers  would  stop 
at  nothing  to  effect  their  objects,  however  shameless  or 
corrupt.  This  purchase  of  Mr.  Trench,  had  a  much  more 
fatal  effect  upon  the  destinies  of  Ireland.  His  change  of 
sides,  and  the  majority  of  one  to  which  it  contributed, 
were  probably  the  remote  causes  of  persevering  in  a 
Union.  Mr.  Trench's  venality  excited  indignation  in 
every  friend  of  Ireland.* 

Another  circumstance  that  night  proved  by  what  means 
Lord  Castlereagh's  majority  of  even  one  was  acquired. 

The  Place  Bill,  so  long  and  so  pertinaciously  sought 
for,  and  so  indiscreetly  framed  by  Mr.  Grattan  and  the 
Whigs  of  Ireland,  now,  for  the  first  time,  proved  the  very 
engine  by  which  the  Minister  upset  the  opposition,  and 
annihilated  the  Constitution. 

That  bill  enacted,  that  members  accepting  offices, 
places,  or  pensions,  during  the  pleasure  of  the  Crown, 

•  Had  Mr.  Fox  and  Mr.  Trench  voted  as  they  professed,  a  majority 
ot  three  would  have  appeared  in  favour  oi  Mr.  Ponsonby's  amendment ; 
and  Englishmen  will  scarcely  credit  that  any  Government  could,  with  a 
majority  against  them,  hive  presumed  to  persevere  in  theii  subversion  (A 
the  Constitution. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  396 

should  not  sit  in  Parliament  unless  re-elected ;  but,  un- 
fortunately, the  Bill  made  no  distinction  between  valuable 
offices  which  might  influence,  and  nominal  offices,  which 
might  job,  and  the  Chiltern  Hundreds  of  England  were> 
under  the  title  o[  the  Escheatorships  of  Munster,  Lein- 
ster,  Connaught,  &c,  transferred  to  Ireland,  with  salaries 
of  forty  shillings,  to  be  used  at  pleasure  by  the  Secretary. 
Occasional  and  temporary  seats  were  thus  bartered  for 
by  Government,  and  by  the  ensuing  session,  made  the 
complete  and  fatal  instrument  of  packing  the  Parliament 
and  effecting  a  Union. 

Mr.  Luke  Fox,  a  barrister  of  very  humble  origin,  of 
vulgar  manners,  and  of  a  coarse,  harsh  appearance,  was 
endued  with  a  clear,  strong,  and  acute  mind,  and  was 
possessed  of  much  cunning.  He  had  acquired  very  con- 
siderable legal  information,  and  was  an  obstinate  and  per- 
severing advocate  ;  he  had  been  the  usher  of  a  school,  and 
a  sizer  in  Dublin  University ;  but  neither  politics  nor  the 
belles-lettres  were  his  pursuit.  On  acquiring  eminence  at 
the  bar,  he  married  an  obscure  niece  of  the  Earl  of  Ely's; 
he  had  originally  professed  what  was  called  whiggism, 
merely,  as  people  supposed,  because  his  name  was  Fox. 
His  progress  was  impeded  by  no  political  principles.,  but 
he  kept  his  own  secrets  well,  and  being  a  man  of  no  im- 
portance, it  was  perfectly  indifferent  to  every  body  what 
side  he  took.  Lord  Ely,  perceiving  he  was  manageable, 
returned  him  to  Parliament  as  one  of  his  automata ;  and 
Mr.  Fox  played  his  part  very  much  to  the  satisfaction  of 
his  manager. 

When  the  Union  was  announced.  Lord  Ely  had  not 
made  his  terms,  and  remained  long  in  abeyance ;  and  as 
his  Lordship  had  not  issued  his  orders  to  Mr.  Fox,  he  was 
very  unwilling  to  commit  himself  until  he  could  dive 
deeper  into  probabilities  ;  but  rather  believing  the  oppo- 
sition would  have  the  majority,  he  remained  in  the  body 
of  the  House  with  the  Anti-Unionists,  when  the  division 
look  place.  The  doors  were  scarce^  locked,  when  ho 
became  alarmed,  and  slunk,  unperceived,  into  one  of  the 
dark  corridors,  where  he  concealed  himself:  he  was,  how- 
ever, discovered,  and  the  serjeant-at-arms  was  ordered  to 
bring  him  forth,  to  be  counted  amongst  the  Anti-Union- 
fsfs,  lis  confusion  was  very  great,  and  he  seemed  at  hit 


396  RISE    AND    FALT, 

wit' s  end,  at  length  he  declared  he  had  taken  advantage 
of  the  Place  Bill ;  had  actually  accepted  the  Escheator* 
ship  of  Munstcr,  and  had  thereby  vacated  his  seat,  and 
could  not  vote. 

The  fact  was  doubted,  but,  after  much  discussion,  his 
excuse,  upon  his  honour,  was  admitted,  and  he  was  al 
lowed  to  return  into  the  corridor.  On  the  numbers  being 
counted,  there  was  a  majority  of  one  for  LordCastlereagh, 
and,  exclusive  of  Mr.  Trench's  conduct  ;  but  for  that  of 
Mr.  Fox  the  numbers  would  have  been  equal ;  the  mea- 
sure  would  have  been  negatived  by  the  Speaker's  vote, 
and  the  renewal  of  it,  the  next  day,  have  been  prevented: 
this  would  have  been  a  most  important  victory. 

XII L  The  mischief  of  the  Place  Bill  now  stared  its 
framers  in  the  face,  and  gave  the  Secretary  a  code  of  in- 
struction how  to  arrange  a  Parliament  against  the  ensu- 
ing session. 

To  render  the  circumstance  still  more  extraordinary 
and  unfortunate  for  Mr.  Fox's  reputation,  it  was  subse- 
quently discovered,  by  the  public  records,  that  Mr.  Fox's 
assertion  was  false  ;  but  the  following  day  Lord  Castle 
reagh  purchased  him  outright ;  and  then,  and  not  before, 
appointed  him  to  the  nominal  office  of  Escheator  of  Mun 
ster,  and  left  the  seat  of  Lord  Ely  for  another  of  his  crea- 
tures.* This  is  mentioned,  not  only  as  one  of  the  most 
reprehensible  public  acts  committed  during  the  discussion, 
but  because  it  was  the  primary  cause  of  the  measure 
being  persisted  in.  , 

The  exultations  of  the  public  on  this  disappointment  of 
the  Minister  knew  no  bounds  ;  they  reflected  not,  that, 
next  day,  a  new  debate  must  endanger  their  ambiguous 
triumph.  The  national  character  of  the  Irish,  during 
both  the  23rd  and  24th,  displayed  itself  in  full  vigour. 

The  debate  upon  the  report  of  the  address,  and  the 
pertinacity  which  urged  the  Government  to  a  second 
combat,  soon  roused  them  from  their  dream  of  security. 

Both  parties  now  stood  in  a  difficult  and  precarious 

*  This  did  not  conclude  the  remarkable  acts  of  Mr.  Fox :  after  his 
■eat  had  been  so  vacated,  he  got  himself  re-elected  for  a  Borough  undei 
the  influence  of  the  Earl  of  Granard,  a  zealous  Anti-Unionist ;  here  he 
once  more  betrayed  the  country,  and  was  appointed  a  Judge  when  the 
■ubject  wan  decided. 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION. 


397 


predicament :  the  Minister  had  not  time  to  gain  ground 
by  the  usual  practices  of  the  Secretary ;  and  the  question 
must  have  been  either  totally  relinquished  or  again  dis- 
cussed. The  Opposition  were,  as  yet,  uncertain  how  far 
the  last  debate  might  cause  any  numerical  alteration  in 
their  favour  ;  each  party  calculated  on  a  small  majority, 
and  it  was  considered  that  a  defeat  would  be  equally 
ruinous  to  either. 

It  was  supposed  that  the  Minister  would,  according  to 
all  former  precedent,  withdraw  from  his  situation,  if  left 
in  a  minority,  whilst  an  increased  majority,  however 
small,  against  the  Anti-Unionists,  might  give  plausible 
grounds  for  future  discussions. 

The  next  day  the  people  collected  in  vast  multitudes 
around  the  House  ;  a  strong  sensation  was  every  where 
perceptible  ;  immense  numbers  of  ladies  of  distinction 
crowded  at  an  early  hour,  into  the  galleries,  and  by  their 
presence  and  their  gestures  animated  that  patriotic  spirit, 
upon  the  prompt  energy  of  which  alone  depended  the 
fate  of  Ireland. 

Secret  messengers  were  dispatched  in  every  direction, 
to  bring  in  loitering  or  reluctant  members — every  emis- 
sary that  Government  could  rely  upon  was  busily  em- 
ployed the  entire  morning  ;  and  five  and  thirty  minutes 
after  four  o'clock,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  24th  of  January, 
1799,  the  House  met  to  decide,  by  the  adoption  or  rejec- 
tion of  the  Address,  the  question  of  national  indepen- 
dence or  annihilation.  Within  the  corridors  of  the  House, 
a  shameless  and  unprecedented  alacrity  appeared  among 
the  friends  of  Government. 

Mr.  Cooke,  the  Under  Secretary,  who,  throughout  all 
the  subsequent  stages  of  the  question,  was  the  private 
and  efficient  actuary  of  the  Parliamentary  seduction,  on 
this  night  exceeded  even  himself,  both  in  his  public  and 
prifate  exertions  to  gain  over  the  wavering  members. 
Admiral  Pakenham,  a  naturally  friendly  and  good-heart- 
ed gentleman,  that  night  acted  like  the  captain  of  a  press- 
gang,  and  actually  hauled  in  some  members  who  were 
desirous  of  retiring.  He  had  declared  that  he  would  act 
in  any  capacity,  according  to  the  exigencies  of  his  party; 
%  i  he  did  not  shrink  from  his  task. 

Mr.  Marshall,  of  the  Secretary's  office  (not  a  mem 
34 


999  RISE    AND   FALL 

her),  forgot  all  decorum,  and  disgraced  the  cause  by  hn 
exploits  about  the  entrances  of  the  House.  Others  act- 
ed as  keepers  in  the  coffee-room  ;  and  no  member  who 
could  be  seduced,  intimidated,  or  deceived,  could  possibly 
escape  the  nets  that  were  extended  to  secure  hirn. 

Nor  did  the  leaders  of  Opposition  remain  inactive  ;  but 
the  attendance  of  their  friends  being  voluntary,  was,  of 
course,  precarious.  The  exertions  of  Mr.  Bowes  Daly 
and  others,  were,  however,  strenuous. 

At  length  a  hot  and  open  canvass,  by  the  friends  of  Gov- 
ernment, was  perceived,  wherever  an  uncertain  or  reluc- 
tant member  could  be  found,  or  his  connections  discovered, 

XIV.  The  debate  commenced  about  seven  o'clock. 
Silence  prevailed  in  the  galleries ;  but  an  indecent  con- 
fusion and  noise  ran  through  the  corridors,  and  frequently 
excited  surprise  and  alarm  at  its  continuance  :  it  was  the 
momentous  canvass — it  was  rude,  sometimes  boisterous, 
and  altogether  unsual. 

The  Speaker  at  length  took  his  chair,  and  his  cry  of 
"  Order !  order  !"  obtained  a  profound  silence.  Dignified 
and  peremptory,  he  was  seldom  disobeyed  ;  and  a  chair- 
man more  despotic,  from  his  wisdom  and  the  respect  and 
affection  of  the  members  of  every  side,  never  presided 
over  a  popular  assembly. 

When  prayers  commenced,  all  was  in  a  moment 
gloomy  and  decorous,  and  a  deep  solemnity  corresponded 
with  the  vital  importance  of  the  subject  they  were  to  de- 
termine. 

This  debate,  in  point  of  warmth,  much  exceeded  the 
former.  Lord  Castlereagh  was  silent ;  his  eye  ran  round 
the  assembly,  as  if  to  ascertain  his  situation,  and  was 
often  withdrawn  with  a  look  of  uncertainty  and  disap- 
pointment. The  numbers  had  a  little  increased  since  the 
last  division,  principally  by  members  who  had  not  de- 
clared themselves,  and  of  whose  opinions  the  Secretary 
was  ignorant. 

Lord  Castlereagh,  however,  wincing  under  his  negative 
castigatio'  of  the  former  evening,  had  now  determined  to 
act  on  the  offensive,  and  give,  by  his  example,  more  spirit, 
and  zeal  to  his  followers  than  they  had  hitherto  exhibited 
It  was  his  only  course,  and  though  inoperative,  it  wai 
tbly  attempted. 


OP   THE    IRISH    NATION.  3911 

The  debate,  however,  had  hardly  commenced,  when  he 
Was  assailed  as  if  by  a  storm.  Several  members  rose  at 
once  to  tell  the  Secretary  their  opinions  of  his  merits — 
a  personal  hostility  appeared  palpable  between  the 
parties ;  the  subject  and  arguments  were  the  same  as 
those  of  the  preceding  night,  but  they  were  accompanied 
much  more  by  individual  allusions. 

Sir  John  Parnell,  late  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer, 
who  had  been  dismissed  for  refusing  to  support  a  Union, 
opened  the  debate.  He  spoke  with  great  ability;  he 
plainly  avowed  his  opinion  that  it  was  a  revolutionary 
change  of  the  Constitution,  which  the  Parliament  had  no 
power  to  enact,  and  to  which  the  King  could  not,  con- 
sistently with  his  Coronation  Oath,  give  the  royal  assent. 

Mr.  Tighe,  of  Wicklow,  followed  and  delivered  his 
sentiments  against  the  measure  in  the  same  terms,  and 
with  equal  decision.  Mr.  George  Ponsonby  arose  to 
move  an  amendment,  negativing  the  address  as  far  as 
it  alluded  to  a  Union. 

When  Mr.  George  Ponsonby  was  roused,  he  had  great 
debating  powers :  on  minor  subjects  he  was  often  vapid, 
but  on  this  occasion  he  far  exceeded  himself  in  argument, 
elocution,  and  in  fortitude.  He  was  sincere — his  blood 
warmed — he  reasoned  with  a  force,  a  boldness,  and  with 
an  absence  of  all  reserve,  which  he  never  before  had  so 
energetically  exhibited.  As  a  lawyer,  a  statesman,  and  a 
loyal  Irish  subject,  he  denied  that  either  the  Lords,  or  the 
Commons,  or  the  King  of  Ireland,  had  the  power  of  pass- 
ing or  assenting  to  a  Legislative  Union.  He  avowed  his 
opinion  that  the  measure  was  revolutionary,  and  would 
run  the  destructive  lengths  of  endangering  the  compact 
between  the  crown  and  the  subjects,  and  the  connection 
of  the  two  nations. 

It  is  scarcely  to  be  imagined  what  an  effect  such  a 
speech,  from  a  calm,  discreet,  and  loyal  man,  a  constitu- 
tional lawyer,  and  representative  of  a  high  aristocratic 
family,  produced  in  that  House.  It  was,  in  point  of 
exteiit  and  powers,  unexpected  from  so  calm  a  character ; 
and  the  impression  therefore  was  proportionably  greater. 

The  words,  as  he  spoke  them,  were  imbibed  by  every 
man  who  was  a  free  agent  in  Parliament.  In  the  course 
of  hit  speech  he  assailed  Lord  Castlereagh  with  a  strength 


400  RISE    AND    FALL    * 

and  unreserved  severity,  which  greatly  exceeded  the  usual 
bounds  of  his  philippics. 

Cool  and  deliberate  irony,  ten  times  more  piercing  than 
the  sharpest  satire,  flowed  from  his  lips,  in  a  slow  rolling 
flood  of  indignant  denunciation.  His  calm  language 
never  for  one  moment  yielded  to  his  warm  impressions ; 
and  it  was  doubly  formidable,  from  being  restrained  by 
prudence,  and  dictated  by  conviction. 

During  Mr.  Ponsonby's  oration,  a  very  impressive 
scene  was  exhibiting  on  the  treasury  bench.  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  had  been  anticipated — he  seemed  to  be  astounded 
— he  moved  restlessly  on  his  seat — he  became  obviously 
disconcerted,  whispered  to  those  who  sat  near  him,  and 
appeared  more  sensitive  than  he  had  ever  been  on  any 
public  occasion. 

As  Mr.  Ponsonby  advanced,  the  Secretary  became  more 
affected;  occasionally  he  rose  to  interrupt;  and  when 
Mr.  Ponsonby  ceased,  he  appeared  to  be  struggling  with 
violent  emotions:  but  he  was  unable  to  suppress  the 
poignancy  of  his  feelings,  and  he  writhed  under  the  casti- 
gation.  His  face  flushed — his  eyes  kindled — and,  for  the 
first  time  in  that  House,  he  appeared  to  be  rising  into  a 
high  slate  of  agitation.  Mr.  Ponsonby,  who  stood  directly 
before  him,  formed  an  admirable  contrast :  not  a  feature 
moved — not  a  muscle  was  disturbed  ;  his  small  grey  eyes 
rivetted  upon  his  adversary,  expressed  contempt  and  supe- 
riority more  eloquently  than  language ;  and  with  thes»j 
cool  and  scornful  glances,  which  are  altogether  indes- 
cribable, Mr.  Ponsonby,  unperturbed,  Hstened  to  a  reply 
which  raised  Lord  Castlereagh  in  the  estimation  oi  his 
adherents. 

He  had  that  morning  decided  on  a  course  which  the 
experience  of  the  former  evening  had  induced  him  to 
think  might  affect  the  debate  in  favour  of  the  Govern- 
ment. He  had  resolved  to  act  on  the  offensive,  and.  by 
an  extravagant  invective  against  the  principles  of  the 
Anti-Unionists,  to  blind  and  detach  some  of  the  dullest 
of  the  country  gentlemen  from  a  party  which  he  intended 
to  represent  as  an  anarchial  faction  ;  and  by  holding  up 
to  his  supporter  an  exemplary  contempt  for  all  public 
9pinio?i,  diminish  the  effect  of  patriotic  declamation,  from 
the  powerful  effect  of  which  the  opponents  of  a  Union 


OF    THE    IRISH     NATION.  401 

acquired  so  much  strength  and  importance.  On  these 
grounds  he  had  decided  to  act  boldly  himself,  and  to 
encourage  and  excite  a  simultaneous  attack  upon  the 
principles  and  conduct  of  the  leading  members  who 
opposed  him. 

XV.  For  this  species  of  conflict  the  youthful  Minister 
was  admirably  adapted.  He  had  sufficient  firmness  to 
advance,  and  sufficient  pertinacity  to  persist  in  any  asser- 
tion. Never  had  he  more  occasion  to  exert  all  his 
powers  ;  nor  did  he  fail  in  his  efforts.  He  had  no  qualms 
or  compunction  to  arrest  his  progress.  In  his  reply  there 
was  no  assertion  he  did  not  risk — no  circumstance  he  did 
not  vouch  for — no  aspersion  he  did  not  cast;  and  he 
even  went  lengths  which  he  afterwards  repented.  To  the 
Bar  he  applied  the  term  "  pettifoggers ; "  to  the  Opposi- 
tion, "  cabal — combinators — desperate  faction ;"  and  to 
the  nation  itself,  "  barbarism — ignorance,"  and  "  insen- 
sibility to  protection  and  paternal  regards  she  had  ever 
experienced  from  the  British  nation."  His  speech  was 
severe  beyond  any  thing  he  had  ever  uttered  within  the 
walls  of  Parliament,  and  far  exceeded  the  powers  he  was 
supposed  to  possess.  He  raked  up  every  act  of  Mr. 
Ponsonby's  political  career,  and  handled  it  with  a  mas- 
terly severity  ;  but  it  was  in  the  tone  and  in  the  manner 
of  an  angry  gentleman.  He  had  flown  at  the  highest 
game,  and  his  opponent  (never  off  his  guard)  attended  to 
his  Lordship  with  a  contemptuous  and  imperturbable 
placidity,  which  frequently  gave  Mr.  Ponsonby  a  great 
advantage  over  warmer  debaters.  On  this  occasion  he 
seemed  not  at  all  to  feel  the  language  of  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  ;  he  knew  that  he  had  provoked  it,  and  he  saw 
that  he  had  spoken  effectually  by  the  irritation  of  his 
opponent. 

Lord  Castlereagh  was  greatly  exhausted,  and  Mr.  Pon- 
sonby, turning  round,  audibly  observed,  with  a  frigid 
smile,  and  an  air  of  utter  indifference — "  the  ravings  of 
an  irritated  youth — it  was  natural." 

This  was  one  of  the  most  important  personal  conflicts 
during  the  discussions  of  the  Union,  and  it  had  a  very 
powerful  effect,  at  least,  on  the  spirit  of  his  Lordship's 
followers.  Truth  was  unimportant  to  him  :  on  personal 
attacks,  his  misrepresentation  might  honourably  be  ro- 

34* 


402  RISE    AND    FALL 

traded  at  convenient  opportunities.  He  had  no  public 
character  to  forfeit;  and  a  majority  of  his  supporter* 
were  similarly  circumstanced.  Prompt  personal  hostility, 
therefore,  was  the  line  he  had  that  morning  decided  on ; 
and  it  was  the  most  politic  step  a  minister  so  desperately 
circumstanced  could  adopt.  When  vicious  measures  are 
irrevocably  adopted,  obtrusive  compunction  must  in- 
stantly be  banished.  He  determined  to  reject  every  con- 
sideration, but  that  of  increasing  his  majority ;  but  lie  was 
routed  by  the  very  course  he  had  calculated  on  to  ensure 
a  victory.  The  foresight  of  Mr.  Ponsonby  had  pene- 
trated through  his  policy,  and  showed  him  that,  to  coun- 
teract the  enemy,  he  should  become  the  assailant,  seize 
the  very  position  his  adversary  had  selected,  and  antici- 
pate the  very  line  on  which  he  had  determined  to  try  the 
battle.  This  line  Mr.  Ponsonby  had  acted  upon,  and  in 
this  he  had  succeeded. 

The  discussion  now  proceeded  with  extraordinary  as- 
perity; but  the  influence  of  the  Speaker,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions, preserved  the  Members  in  tolerable  order :  it 
was  often  difficult  to  determine  which  side  transgressed 
the  most.  Mr.  Arthur  Moore  on  this  night  took  a  de- 
cided part ;  and  Mr.  Egan  trampled  down  the  metaphori- 
cal sophistries  of  Mr.  William  Smith,  as  to  the  compe- 
tence of  Parliament ;  such  reasoning  he  called  rubbish, 
and  such  reasoners  were  scavengers ;  like  a  dray  horse  he 
galloped  over  all  his  opponents,  plunging  and  kicking, 
and  overthrowing  all  before  him.  No  member  on  that 
night  pronounced  a  more  sincere,  clumsy,  powerful  ora- 
tion— of  matter  he  had  abundance — of  language  he  made 
no  selection ;  and  he  was  aptly  compared  to  the  Trojan 
horse,  sounding  as  if  he  had  armed  men  within  him. 

Never  was  there  a  more  unfortunate  quotation  for  the 
Government  than  one  made  by  Mr.  Serjeant  Stanly  from 
Judge  Blackstone. 

The  dictum  of  a  puisne  Judge,  in  a  British  court  of 
law,  was  cited,  to  influence  the  opinion  of  300  members 
in  the  Irish  Parliament  on  the  subject  of  their  own  anni- 
hilation. 

The  debate  continued  with  undiminished  animation 
and  hostility  until  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  24th. 
when   Sir    Laurence    Parsons   (Lord   Rosse)   supported 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  403 

Mr.  Ponsonby  in  a  speech  luminous,  and  in  some  parts 
almost  sublime.  He  had  caught  the  name  which  his 
col.eague  had  but  kindled,  and  blazed  with  an  eloquence 
of  which  he  had  shown  but  few  examples,  the  impression 
was  powerful. 

Mr.  Frederick  Falkiner,  member  for  Dublin  County, 
who  immediately  followed,  was  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able instances  of  inflexible  public  integrity  in  Ireland  ;  he 
would  have  been  a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  Govern- 
ment, but  nothing  could  corrupt  him.  Week  after  week 
he  was  ineffectually  tempted,  through  his  friends,  by  a 
peerage  or  aught  he  might  desire  ;  he  replied :  "  I  am 
poor,  His  true ;  but  no  human  power,  no  reward,  no  tor- 
ture, no  elevation,  shall  ever  tempt  me  to  betray  my 
country,  never  mention  to  me  again  so  infamous  a  pro- 
posal." He  was,  however,  afterwards  treated  ungratefully 
by  the  very  constituents  whom  he  had  obeyed,  and  died 
a  victim  to  poverty  and  patriotism. 

Mr.  James  Fitzgerald  had  been  dismissed  from  the 
office  of  Prime  Serjeant,  the  highest  at  the  bar,  for 
refusing  to  relinquish  his  independence.  He  scorned  to 
retain  it  under  circumstances  of  dishonour,  and  on  this 
night  spoke  at  great  length,  and  with  a  train  of  reasoning 
which  must  have  been  decisive  in  an  uncorrupted 
assembly  ;  he  refused  every  offer,  and  never  returned  to 
office.* 

Colonel  Maxwell,  (Lord  Farnham),  Mr.  Lee  (Water- 
ford),  Mr.  Barrington  Judge  of  the  High  Court  of  Admi- 
ralty, and  many  others,  pressed  forward  to  deliver  their 
sentiments  against  so  fatal  a  project.  Every  moment  the 
debate  grew  warmer,  and  the  determination  to  oppose  it 
became  more  obvious,  the  members  of  Government  were 
staggered,  the  storm  increased,  but  Lord  Castlereagh  was 
calm ;   he  rose  and  spoke  with   a  confident  assurance 

*  No  man  in  Ireland  was  more  sincere  in  his  opposition  to  a  Union 
than  Mr.  Fitzgerald;  he  was  the  first  who  declared  his  intention  oi 
writing  its  history. 

He  afterwards  relinquished  the  design,  and  urged  me  to  commence  it — ■ 
he  handed  me  the  prospectus  of  what  he  intended,  and  no  man  in  Ire- 
land knew  the  occult  details  of  that  proceeding  better  than  he.  He  it 
the  Father  of  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald ;  had  a  very  good  fortune,  and  wai 
one  of  the  most  successful  and  persevering  lawyers  that  ever  practise!  q 
Ireland. 


404  RISE    AND    FALL 

peculiar  to  himself;  and  particularly  disavowed  all  cor- 
ruption, though  he  had  dismissed  every  man  who  would 
not  promise  to  support  him,  and  had  near  seventy  subser- 
vient placemen  at  that  moment  on  his  side. 

XVI.  At  length  Mr.  Phmket  arose,  and,  in  the  ablest 
speech  ever  heard  by  any  member  in  that  Parliament, 
went  at  once  to  the  grand  and  decisive  point,  the  incom- 
petence of  Parliament,  he  could  go  no  further  on  principle 
than  Mr.  Ponsonby,  but  his  language  was  irresistible,  and 
he  left  nothing  to  be  urged.  It  was  perfect  in  eloquence, 
and  unanswerable  in  reasoning.  Its  effect  was  indescri- 
bable ;  and,  for  the  first  time,  Lord  Castlereagh,  whom  he 
personally  assailed,  seemed  to  shrink  from  the  encounter. 
That  speech  was  of  great  weight,  and  it  proved  the  elo- 
quence, the  sincerity,  and  the  fortitude  of  the  speaker. 

But  a  short  speech  on  that  night,  which  gave  a  new 
sensation,  and  excited  novel  observations,  was  a  maiden 
speech  by  Colonel  O'Donnell  of  Mayo  County,  the  eldest 
son  of  Sir  Neil  O'Donnell,  a  man  of  very  large  fortune  in 
tnat  county  ;  he  was  colonel  of  the  Mayo  regiment.  He 
was  a  brave  officer,  and  a  well  bred  gentleman ;  and  in 
ail  the  situations  of  life  he  showed  excellent  qualities.  On 
this  night,  roused  by  Lord  Castlereagh's  invectives,  he 
could  not  contain  his  indignation  ;  and  by  anticipation 
"  disclaimed  all  future  allegiance,  if  a  Union  were  effect- 
ed, he  held  it  as  a  vicious  revolution,  and  avowed  that  he 
would  take  the  field  at  the  head  of  his  regiment  to  oppose 
its  execution,  and  would  resist  rebels  in  rich  clothes  as  he 
had  done  the  rebels  in  rags."  And  for  his  speech  in 
Parliament  he  was  dismissed  his  regiment  without  further 
notice. 

As  a  contrast  to  the  language  of  Colonel  O'Donnell,  it 
is  curious  to  observe  the  new  exhibition  of  Mr.  Trencbr 
of  Woodiawn.  He  was  not  satisfied  with  the  disgusting 
exhibition  of  the  preceding  night,  but  again  introduced 
himself  to  a  notice  which  common  modesty  would  have 
avoided.  He  now  entered  into  a  defence  of  his  former 
tergiversation,  and,  most  unfortunately  for  himself,  con- 
tradicted distinctly  the  substance  of  both  his  former 
speeches.  He  thus  solved  all  the  doubts  which  might 
have  arisen  as  to  his  former  conduct,  closed  the  mouth 
Df  eveiy  friend  from  any  possibility  of  defending  Lim, 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  405 

End  delft  ered  himself,  without  reserve,  into  the  hands  of 
his  seducers.  He  said,  "  he  had,  since  the  night  before, 
been  fully  convinced  of  the  advantages  of  a  Union,  and 
would  certainly  support  it."  The  Irish  Peerage  was  soon 
honoured  by  his  addition,  as  Lord  Ashtown. 

After  the  most  stormy  debate  remembered  in  the  Irish 
Parliament,  the  question  was  loudly  called  for  by  the 
Opposition,  who  were  now  tolerably  secure  of  a  majority, 
never  did  so  much  solicitude  appear  in  any  public 
assembly ;  at  length  above  sixty  members  had  spoken, 
the  subject  was  exhausted,  and  all  parties  seemed  im- 
patient. The  House  divided,  and  the  Opposittion  with- 
drew to  the  Court  of  Requests.  It  is  not  easy  to  conceive, 
still  less  to  describe,  the  anxiety  of  that  moment ;  a  con- 
siderable delay  took  place.  Mr.  Ponsonby  and  Sir 
Laurence  Parsons  were  at  length  named  tellers  for  the 
amendment ;  Mr.  W.  Smith  and  Lord  Tyrone  for  the  ad- 
dress. One  hundred  and  eleven  members  had  declared 
against  the  Union,  and  when  the  doors  were  opened,  one 
hundred  and  five  was  discovered  to  be  the  total  number 
of  the  Minister's  adherents.  The  gratification  of  the 
Anti-Unionists  was  unbounded ;  and  as  they  walked 
deliberately  in,  one  by  one,  to  be  counted,  the  eager  spec- 
tators, ladies  as  well  as  gentlemen,  leaning  over  the  gal- 
L'ries,  ignorant  of  the  result,  were  panting  with  expecta- 
tion. Lady  Castlereagh,  then  one  of  the  finest  women 
of  the  Court,  appeared  in  the  Serjeant's  box,  palpitating 
for  her  husband's  fate.  The  desponding  appearance  and 
fallen  crests  of  the  Ministerial  benches,  and  the  exulting 
air  of  the  opposition  members  as  they  entered,  were  in- 
telligible.* The  murmurs  of  suppressed  anxiety  would 
have  excited  an  interest  even  in  the  most  unconnected 

*  Mr.  Egan,  Chairman  oi  Dublin  County,  a  coarse,  large,  bluff,  red- 
faced  Irishman,  was  the  last  who  entered.  His  exultation  knew  no 
bounds;  as  No.  110  was  announced,  he  stopped  a  moment  at  the  Bar, 
flourished  a  great  stick  which  he  had  in  his  hand  over  his  head,  and 
with  the  voice  of  a  Stentor  cried  out,  "And  I'm  a  hunched  and  eleven  .'" 
He  then  sat  quietly  down,  and  burst  out  into  an  immoderate  and  almos. 
convulsive  fit  of  laughter ;  it  was  all  heart.  Never  was  there  a  finer 
picture  of  genuine  patriotism.  He  was  very  far  from  being  rich,  and  had 
an  offer  to  be  made  a  Baron  of  the  Exchequer,  with  3,5007.  a  year,  if  be 
w^uld  support  the  Union,  but  refused  it  with  indignation.  On  any  othei 
subject  'lie  would  have  supported  the  Government. 


406  RISE    AND    PALL 

stranger,  who  had  known  the  objects  and  importance  oi 
the  contest.  How  much  more,  therefore,  must  every 
Irish  breast  which  panted  in  the  galleries  have  experi- 
enced that  thrilling  enthusiasm  which  accompanies  the 
achievement  of  patriotic  actions,  when  the  Minister's  de- 
feat was  announced  from  the  chair  !  A  due  sense  of  re- 
spect and  decorum  restrained  the  galleries  within  proper 
bounds ;  but  a  low  ci  y  of  satisfaction  from  the  iemale 
audience  could  not  be  prevented,  and  no  sooner  was  the 
event  made  known  out  of  doors,  than  the  crowds  that 
had  waited  during  the  entire  night,  with  increasing  im- 
patience for  the  vote  which  was  to  decide  upon  the  inde- 
pendence of  their  country,  sent  forth  loud  and  reiterated 
shouts  of  exultation,  which,  resounding  through  the  cor- 
ridors and  penetrating  to  the  body  of  the  House,  added  to 
the  triumph  of  the  conquerors,  and  to  the  misery  of  the 
adherents  of  the  conquered  Minister. 
The  numbers  on  this  division  were  : — 

For  Mr.  Ponsonby's  Amendment  Ill 

For  Lord  Tyrone's  address       .  ...         105 

Majority  against  Government   .  6 

On  this  debate,  the  members  who  voted  were  circum- 
stanced as  follows : — 

Members  holding  offices  during  pleasure                    .  69 

Members  rewarded  by  offices  for  their  votes     ...  19 

Member  openly  seduced  in  the  body  of  the  House    .    .  1 
Commoners  created  peers,  or  their  wives  peeresses,  for 

their  votes               18 

102 

Supposed  to  be  uninfluenced  3 

The  House  composed  of     .    .  300 

Voted  that  night 216 

Absent  Members    ....  84 


Of  these  eighty-four  absent  members,  twenty-four  were 
Kept  away  by  absolute  necessity,  and  of  the  residue  there 
can  be  no  doubt  they  were  not  friends  to  the  Union,  from 


OF    THE    IRISH    NAT!  »N.  44*7 

this  plain  reason — that  the  Government  had  the  power  of 
enforcing  the  attendance  of  all  the  dependent  members, 
and  the  Opposition  had  no  power,  they  had  none  but  vol- 
untary supporters  ;  of  which  number  Lord  Castlereagh 
was  enabled  to  seduce  forty-three  during  the  piorogation, 
and  by  that  acquisition  out-voted  the  Anti-Unionists  on 
the  5th  of  February,  1800. 

XVII.  The  members  assembled  in  the  lobby  were 
preparing  to  separate,  when  Mr,  Ponsonby  requested  they 
would  return  into  the  House  and  continue  a  very  few 
minutes,  as  he  had  business  of  the  utmost  importance  for 
their  consideration  ;  this  produced  a  profound  silence  ; 
Mr.  Ponsonby  than,  in  a  few  words,  "  congratulated  the 
House  and  the  country  on  the  honest  and  patriotic  asser- 
tion of  their  liberties  ;  txit  declared,  that  he  considered 
there  would  be  no  security  against  future  attempts  to 
overthrow  their  independence,  but  by  a  direct  and  abso- 
lute declaration  of  the  rights  of  Irishmen,  recorded  upon 
their  journals,  as  the  decided  sense  of  the  people,  through 
their  Parliament ;  and  he,  therefore,  without  further  pre- 
face, moved,  "  That  this  House  will  ever  maintain  the 
undoubted  birthright  of  Irishmen,  by  preserving  an 
independent  Parliament  of  Lords  and  Commons  resi- 
dent in  this  Kingdom,  as  stated  and  approved  by  his 
Majesty  and  the  British  Parliament  in  1782." 

Lord  Castlereagh,  conceiving  that  further  resistance 
vais  unavailing,  only  said,  "  that  he  considered  such  a 
motion  of  the  most  dangerous  tendency ;  however,  if  the 
House  were  determined  on  it,  he  t>e.£ged  to  declare  his 
entire  dissent,  and  on  their  own  heads  be  the  consequences 
of  so  wrong  and  inconsidrate  a  measure."  No  further 
opposition  was  made  by  Government ;  and  the  Speaker 
putting  the  question,  a  loud  cry  of  approbation  followed, 
with  but  two  negatives,  those  of  Lord  Castlereagh  and 
Mr.  Toler  (Lord  Norbury) ;  the  motion  was  carried,  and 
the  members  were  rising  to  withdraw,  when  the  Speaker 
wishing  to  be  strictly  correct,  called  to  Mr.  Ponsonby,  to 
write  down  his  motion  accurately  ;  he,  accordingly, 
walked  to  the  table  to  write  it  down.  This  delay  of  a 
few  moments,  unimportant  as  it  might  seem  in  the 
common  course  of  human  occurrences,  was  an  incident 
which,  ultimately  deranged  the  constitution  of  an  empire, 


408  RISE    AND    PALL 

and  annihilated  the  legislature  of  an  independent  natioiv 
a.  single  moment,  the  most  critical  that  ever  occurred  in 
history ;  and  of  all  the  events  of  Ireland,  the  most  fata! 
and  irretrievable. 

This  may  teach  posterity,  that  the  destinies  of  nations 
are  governed  by  the  same  chances,  subject  to  the  same 
fatalities,  and  affected  by  the  same  misfortunes,  as  those 
of  the  humblest  individual. 

XVIII.  Whilst  Mr.  Ponsonby  was  writing  his  motion, 
every  member,  in  profound  silence,  was  observing  the 
sensations  of  the  opposite  party,  and  conjecturing  the 
feelings  and  anticipating  the  conduct  of  their  adversaries. 

This  motion  involved,  in  one  sentence,  every  thing 
which  was  sought  after  by  the  one  party  and  dreaded  by 
the  other  ;  its  adoption  must  have  ruined  the  Minister 
and  dismissed  the  Irish  Government.  The  Treasury 
Bench  held  a  mournful  silence,  the  Attorney  General, 
Mr.  Toler,  alone  appeared  to  bear  his  impending  misfor- 
tune with  a  portion  of  that  ease  and  playfulness  which 
never  forsook  him. 

On  Mr.  Ponsonby's  handing  up  his  motion,  he  stood 
firm  and  collected,  and  looked  around  him  with  the  honest 
confidence  of  a  man  who  had  performed  his  duty  and 
saved  his  country,  the  silence  of  death  prevailed  in  the 
galleries,  and  the  whole  assembly  displayed  a  spectacle 
t*s  solemn  and  important  as  any  country  or  any  era  had 
ever  exhibited. 

The  Speaker  repeated  the  question — "  the  ayes"  bursa 
forth  into  a  loud  peal,  the  gallery  was  in  immediate 
motion,  all  was  congratulation.  On  the  question  being 
put  the  second  time  (as  was  usual),  a  still  louder  and  more 
reiterated  cry  of  "  aye,  aye,"  resounded  from  every 
quarter ;  only  the  same  two  negatives  were  heard,,  feebly, 
from  the  ministerial  side,  Government  had  given  up  the 
contest,  and  the  independence  of  Ireland  was  on  the  very 
verge  of  permanent  security,  when  Mr.  William  Charles 
Fortescue,  member  for  Louth  County,  requested  to  be 
heard  before  the  final  decision  was  announced. 

Re  said,  "that  he  was  adverse  to  the  measure  of  a 
legislative  Union,  and  had  given  his  decided  vote  against 
it,  but  he  did  not  wish  to  bind  himself  for  ever;  possible 
circumstances  might  hereafter  occur,  which  might  lender 


OT    mE    IRISH    NATION  409 

that  measure  expedient  for  the  empire,  and  he  did  not 
approve  of  any  determination  which  for  ever  closed  the 
doors  against  any  possibility  of  future  discussion." 

The  Opposition  were  paralyzed,  the  Government  were 
roused,  a  single  sentence  plausibly  conceived,  and  (without 
reflecting  on  its  destructive  consequence)  moderately 
uttered,  by  a  respectable  man,  and  an  avowed  Anti- 
Unionist,  eventually  decided  the  fate  of  the  Irish  nation. 
It  offered  a  pretext  for  timidity,  a  precedent  for  caution, 
and  a  subterfuge  for  wavering  venality. 

XIX.  Mr.  French,  of  Roscommon,  a  country  gentleman 
of  high  character,  and  Lord  Cole,  a  young  nobleman  of 
an  honest,  inconsiderate  mind,  who  had,  on  the  last  division, 
^oted  sincerely  against  the  Minister,  now,  without  a  mo- 
ment's reflection  on  the  ruin  which  must  necessarily  attend 
every  diversity  of  sentiment  in  a  party  associated  by  only 
one  tie,  and  bound  together  only  upon  one  subject,  declared 
themselves  of  Mr.  Fortescue's  opinion.  Mr.  John  Claudius 
Beresford,*  who  had  only  been  restrained  from  adhesion 
to  the  Clare  connection  by  being  representative  of  the  me- 
tropolis, avowed  himself  of  the  same  determination ;  and 
thus  that  constitutional  security,  which  a  direct  and  pe- 
remptory declaration  of  indefeasible  rights,  one  moment 
before,  was  on  the  point  of  permanently  establishing,  was, 
by  the  inconsiderate  and  temporising  words  of  one  feeble 
minded  member,  lost  for  ever.  It  is  impossible  to  express 
the  surprise  and  disappointment  of  the  Anti-Unionists. 

To  be  defeated  by  the  effort  of  an  enemy  was  to  be 
borne,  but  to  fall  by  the  secession  of  a  friend  was  insup- 
portable. The  narrow  jealousies  and  unconnected  mate- 
rials of  the  Anti-Unionists  were  no  longer  to  be  concealed, 
either  from,  friends  or  enemies.  Mr.  „.Ponsonby  felt  the 
eritical  situation  of  ihe  country,  the  opposition  had  but  a 
majority  of  five  on  the  first  division  ;  three  seceders  would 
have  given  a  majority  to  Government,  and  a  division  could 
not  be  risked. 

Mr.  Ponsonby's  presence  of  mind  instantly  suggested 

*  Mr.  John  Claudius  Beresford,  though  he  couM  not  vote  against  tht 
Instructions  of  tiie  City,  took  every  oppoi  tunity  of  expressing,  incident- 
ally, his  entire  confidence  in  the  fair  intentions  of  Lord  Castlereaq/vt 
government :  and  never  appeared  to  be  really  sincere  in  his  opposition 
o  a  Unicn.     His  speech  is  a  tine  specimen  of  temporizing 

35 


41€  RISE    AND    PALL 

the  only  remaining  alternative.  He  lamented  "that  the 
smallest  contrariety  of  opinion  should  have  arisen  amongst 
men  who  ought  to  be  united  by  the  most  powerful  of  al. 
inducements,  the  salvation  of  their  independence.  He 
perceived  however,  a  wish  that  he  should  not  press  the 
motion,  founded,  he  supposed,  on  a  mistaken  confidence 
in  the  engagements  of  the  Noble  Lord  (Lord  Castlereagh,) 
that  he  would  not  again  bring  forward  that  ruinous 
measure  without  the  decided  approbation  of  the  people, 
and  of  the  Parliament.  Though  he  must  doubt  the  sin- 
cerity of  the  Minister's  engagements,  he  could  not  hesitate 
to  acquiesce  in  the  wishes  of  his  friends,  and  he  would 
therefore  withdraw  his  motion." 

XX.  The  sudden  transition  from  exultation  to  despon- 
dency became  instantly  apparent,  by  the  dead  silence 
which  followed  Mr.  Ponsonby's  declaration,  the  change 
was  so  rapid  and  so  unexpected,  that  from  the  galleries, 
which  a  moment  before  were  full  of  congratulation  and 
of  pleasure,  not  a  single  word  was  heard,  crest-fallen  and 
humbled,  many  instantly  withdrew  from  the  scene,  and 
though  the  people  without  knew  of  nothing  but  their 
victory,  the  retreat  was  a  subject  of  the  most  serious  soli- 
citude to  every  friend  of  Irish  independence. 

Such  an  advantage  could  not  escape  the  anxious  eye  of 
Government ;  chagrin  and  disappointment  had  changed 
sides,  and  the  friends  of  the  Union,  who  a  moment  before 
had  considered  their  measure  as  nearly  extinguished,  rose 
upon  their  success,  retorted  in  their  turn,  and  opposed  its 
being  withdrawn.  It  was,  however,  too  tender  a  ground 
for  either  party  to  insist  upon  a  division,  a  debate  was 
equally  to  be  avoided,  and  the  motion  was  suffered  to  be 
withdrawn.  Sir  Henry  Cavendish  keenly  and  sarcastically 
remarked,  that  "  it  was  a  retreat  after  a  victory."  After 
a  day's  and  a  night's  debate  without  intermission,  the 
House  adjourned  at  eleven  o'clock  the  ensuing  morning. 

Upon  the  rising  of  the  House,  the  populace  became 
tumultuous,  and  a  violent  disposition  against  those  who 
had  supported  the  Union  was  manifest,  not  only  amongst 
the  common  people,  but  amongst  those  of  a  much  highei 
class,  who  had  been  mingling  with  them. 

On  the  Speaker's  coming  out  of  the  House,  the  horses 
Were  taken  from  his  carriage,  and  he  was  drawn  in  ti  iumpb 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION. 


in 


through  the  streets  by  the  people,  who  conceived  the 
whimsical  idea  of  tackling  the  Lord  Chancellor  to  the 
coach,  and  (as  a  captive  general  in  a  Roman  triumph) 
forcing  him  to  tug  at  the  chariot  of  his  conqueror. 

Had  it  been  effected,  it  would  have  been  a  signal  anec- 
dote, and  would,  at  least,  have  immortalized  the  classic 
genius  of  the  Irish. 

The  populace  closely  pursued  his  Lordship  for  that 
extraordinary  purpose ;  he  escaped  with  great  difficulty, 
and  fled,  with  a  pistol  in  his  hand,  to  a  receding  door- way 
in  Clarendon-street.  But  the  people,  who  pursued  hire 
in  sport,  set  up  a  loud  laugh  at  him,  as  he  stood  terrified 
against  the  door  ;  they  offered  him  no  personal  violence, 
and  returned  in  high  glee  to  their  more  innocent  amuse- 
ment of  drawing  the  Speaker. 

XXI.  A  scene  of  joy  and  triumph  appeared  universal, 
every  countenance  had  a  smile,  throughout  all  ranks  and 
classes  of  the  people,  men  shook  their  neighbours  heartily 
by  the  hand,  as  if  the  Minister's  defeat  was  an  event  of 
individual  good  fortune,  the  mob  seemed  as  well  disposed 
to  joy  as  mischief,  and  that  was  saying  much  for  a  Dublin 
assemblage.  But  a  view  of  their  enemies,  as  they  came 
skulking  from  behind  the  corridors,  occasionally  roused 
them  to  no  very  tranquil  temperature.  Some  members 
had  to  try  their  speed,  and  others  their  intrepidity.  Mr. 
Richard  Martin,  unable  to  get  clear,  turned  on  his  hunters, 
and  boldly  faced  a  mob  of  many  thousands,  with  a  small 
pocket  pistol  in  his  hand.  He  swore  most  vehemently, 
that,  if  they  advanced  six  inches  on  him,  he  would  imme- 
diately "  shoot  every  mother 's  babe  of  them  as  dead  as  that 
paving  stone" — (kicking  one.)  The  united  spirit  and  fun 
of  his  declaration,  and  his  little  pocket  pistol,  aimed  at 
ten  thousand  men,  women,  and  children,  were  so  entirely 
to  the  taste  of  our  Irish  populace,  that  all  symptoms  of 
hostility  ceased ;  they  gave  him  three  cheers,  and  he  re- 
gained his  home  without  further  molestation. 

Mr.  O'Driscol.  a  gentleman  of  the  Irish  Bar,  one  of  the 
most  sincere  and  active  Anti-Unionists,  used  great  and 
successful  efforts  to  tranquilize  the  people  ;  and  to  his 
persuasions  was  chiefly  to  be  attributed  their  peaceable 
dispersion.     In  one  particular  instance,  he  certainly  pre- 


412  RISE    AND    FALL 

vented  a  most  atrocious  mischief,  if  not  a  great  crime,  bj 
his  prompt  and  spirited  interference. 

The  House  of  Lords  met  on  the  22d  of  January,  1799, 
the  same  day  as  the  Commons,  to  receive  the  speech  of 
the  Viceroy.  Though  the  nation  was  not  unprepared  for 
any  instauce  of  its  subserviency,  some  patriotic  spirits 
might  reasonably  have  been  expected  on  so  momentous 
a  subject  as  the  Union  ;  in  this  expectation,  however,  it 
was  but  feebly  gratified. 

Never  did  a  body  of  hereditary  nobles,  many  of  ancient 
family,  and  several  of  splendid  fortune,  so  disgrace  their 
ancestry. 

After  an  ineffectual  resistance  by  some,  whose  integrity 
was  invincible,  the  Irish  Lords  recorded  their  own  humi- 
liation, and,  in  a  state  of  absolute  infatuation,  perpetrated 
the  most  extraordinary  act  of  legislative  suicide  which 
ever  stained  the  records  of  a  nation. 

The  reply  of  the  Irish  Lords,  to  the  speech  of  the  Bin 
tish  Viceroy,  coincided  in  his  recommendation,  and  vir- 
tually consented  to  prostrate  themselves  and  their  posterity 
for  ever.  The  prerogatives  of  rank,  the  pride  of  ancestry, 
the  glory  of  the  peerage,  and  the  rights  of  the  country, 
\vere  equally  sacrificed. 

The  facility  with  which  the  Irish  Lords  re-echoed  their 
sentence  of  extinction  was  quite  unexampled. 

That  stultified  facility  can  only  be  elucidated  by  taking 
&  brief  statistical  view  of  what  was  once  considered  an 
august  assembly,  but  which  the  over-bearing  influence  of 
the  absol  ute  and  vindictive  Chancellor  had  for  some  years 
reduced  to  a  mere  instrument  of  his  ambition. 

In  the  hands  of  the  Chancellor,  Lord  Clare,  the  House 
was  powerless,  his  mere  automaton  or  puppet,  which  he 
coerced  or  humoured,  according  to  his  ambition  or  caprice. 

There  were,  however,  amongst  the  Irish  nobility,  a  few 
men  of  spirit,  pride,  talent,  and  integrity :  but  they  were 
too  few  for  resistance. 

The  education  of  the  Irish  noblemen  of  that  day  was 
little  calculated  for  debate  or  Parliamentary  duties ;  they 
very  seldom  took  any  active  part  in  Parliamentary  dis- 
cussions, and  more  rarely  attained  to  that  confidence  in 
public  speaking,  without  which  no  effect  can  be  produced. 
n  ey  could  argue,  or  might  leclaim,  but  were  unequal  ta 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION. 


413 


what  is  termed  debate;  and  being  confirmed  in  their  tor 
pidity  by  an  habitual  abstinence  from  Parliamentary  dis- 
cussions, when  the  day  of  danger  came,  they  were  unequal 
to  the  contest. 

Lord  Clare,  on  the  contrary,  from  his  forensic  habits, 
his  dogmatic  arrogance,  and  unrestrained  invective,  had 
an  incalculable  advantage  over  less  practised  reasoners. 
The  modest  were  overwhelmed  by  flights  of  astounding 
rhapsody,  the  patriotic  borne  down  by  calumny,  the  dif- 
fident silenced  by  contemptuous  irony  ;  and  nearly  the 
whole  of  the  Peerage,  without  being  able  to  account  for 
their  pusillanimity,  were  either  trampled  under  his  feet,  or 
were  mere  puppets  in  the  grasp  of  this  all-powerful  Chan- 
cellor. Such  was  the  state  of  the  Irish  Lords  in  1799. 
The  extent  of  Lord  Clare's  connections,  and  the  energy  of 
his  conduct  during  the  last  insurrection,  had  contributed 
to  render  him  nearly  despotic  over  both  the  Government 
and  the  country.  Dickson,  Bishop  of  Down,  and  Marlay, 
Bishop  of  Limerick,  were  the  only  spiritual  peers  that 
ventured  to  oppose  him,  both  were  of  invincible  integrity 
and  undeviating  patriotism,  his  Grace  of  Limerick  was 
the  uncle  of  Mr.  Grattan ;  and  the  Bishop  of  Down  was 
the  intimate  friend  of  Mr.  Fox  :  unfortunately,  both  were 
too  mild,  unassuming,  and  dignified,  to  contend  success- 
fully against  so  haughty  and  remorseless  an  opponent. 

XXII.  The  Bishop  of  Down  was  a  prelate  of  the  most 
faultless  character,  the  extreme  beauty  of  his  countenance, 
the  gentleness  of  his  manners,  and  the  patriarchal  dignity 
of  his  figure,  rendered  him  one  of  tfc  e  most  interesting 
persons  in  society. 

His  talents  were  considerable,  but  they  were  neutralized 
by  his  modesty  ;  and  he  seldom  could  be  prevailed  upon 
to  rise  in  the  House  of  Peers  upon  political  subjects.  On 
this  night,  however,  stung  to  the  quick  by  the  invectives, 
and  indignant  at  the  designs  of  the  Chancellor,  he  made  a 
reply  to  him  of  which  he  was  supposed  incapable.  Severity 
from  the  Bishop  of  Down  was  likewise  so  unusual,  that 
the  few  sentences  he  pronounced,  stunned  the  champion 
more  than  all  the  speeches  of  his  more  disciplined  oppo- 
nents. 

Nothing,  however,  could  overcome  the  influence  of  Lord 
Clare.     The  Irish  Lords  lay  prostrate  before  the  Govern 

35* 


414  RISE    AND    FALL 

ment,  but  the  leaders  were  not  inattentive  to  their  own 
interests.  The  defeat  of  Government  in  the  Commoni 
gave  them  an  importance  they  had  not  expected. 

The  debates  and  conduct  of  the  Irish  peers  bear  a  com- 
paratively unimportant  share  in  the  transactions  of  that 
epoch,  and  have  but  little  interest  in  the  memoirs  of  those 
times ;  but  the  accounts  of  Lord  Annesley,  &c.,  record 
their  corruption.* 

It  is  not  the  object,  therefore,  of  these  anecdotes,  to 
dilate  more  upon  the  proceedings  of  that  degraded  assem- 
bly, than  incidentally  to  introduce,  as  episodes,  their  in- 
dividual actions,  and  to  state  that  a  great  proportion  of 
the  million  and  a  half  levied  upon  Ireland,  and  distributed 
by  Lord  Castlereagh's  Commissioners  of  Compensation, 
went  into  the  pockets  of  the  Lords  Spiritual  and  Tempo- 
ral of  Ireland. 

XXIII.  From  the  hour  that  Mr.  Ponsonby's  motion 
was  withdrawn,  Government  gained  strength,  the  standard 
of  visionary  honours  and  of  corrupt  emoluments  was 
raised  for  recruits,  a  congratulatory,  instead  of  a  conso- 
latory dispatch,  had  been  instantly  forwarded  to  Mr.  Pitt, 
and  another  to  the  Duke  of  Portland  ;  and  it  was  not 
difficult  to  foresee,  that  the  result  of  that  night,  though 
apparently  a  victory  over  the  proposition  for  a  Union, 
afforded  so  strong  a  point  for  the  Minister  in  the  subse- 
quent negotiations,  by  which  he  had  determined  to  achieve 
his  measure.  The  arguments  and  divisions  on  succeed- 
ing debates  proved,  beyond  the  possihility  of  question, 
the  overwhelming  advantage  which  Mr.  Fortescue's  pre- 
cedent had  given  to  those  who  were  determined  to  dis- 
pose of  their  consistency  under  colour  of  their  moderation. 

The  bad  consequences  which  were  likely  to  result  from 
this  event,  did  not  at  first  occur  to  many  of  the  Opposi- 
tion. Some  of  the  leading  members  of  that  party,  highly 
elated  at  the  success  of  the  last  division,  could  see  do- 

*  It  is  supposed  that  the  important  parts  of  those  records  have  been 
suppressed  at  court ;  the  writer  could  only  trace  them  to  the  bureau  of 
Lord  Annesley,  but  never  could  procure  authenticated  extracts.  It  if 
therefore  only  from  the  payments  at  the  Treasury,  and  the  admission  of 
the  parties,  that  the  corrupt  payments  can  be  substantiated.  One  volumt 
of  the  reports  made  by  the  commissioners  of  compensation  and  distribo- 
tion  f»f  <£l,500,000  was  given  to  the  Author  by  Mr.  Vesey  Fitzgerald* 
some  exfacts  are  given  from  it ;  the  rest  have  been  suppressed. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  4lfl 

thing  but  the  prospect  of  an  increasing  majority  and  an 
ultimate  triumph  ;  these  were  numerous  but  short-sighted. 
Others  regarded,  with  a  wise  solicitude,  the  palpable 
want  of  political  connection  in  the  party  that  opposed  the 
Minister.  However,  Lord  Castlereagh  who  had  so  con- 
fidently  pressed  forward  a  measure  which  Parliament 
had  decidedly  rejected,  and  the  public  universally  repro- 
bated, found  his  situation  the  most  difficult  imaginable. 
He  had  no  just  reason  to  expect  support  in  minor 
measures,  who  had  proved  himself  utterly  unworthy  of 
the  confidence  of  Parliament  on  one  of  the  first  magni- 
tude. His  pride  was  humbled,  but  his  firmness  and  per- 
severance overcame  his  difficulties,  and  the  next  import- 
ant division  on  Lord  Corry's  motion  clearly  proved  the 
consummate  address  with  which  he  had  trafficked  with 
the  members  during  the  interval.  All  the  weapons  of 
seduction  were  in  his  hands  ;  and,  to  acquire  a  majority, 
he  had  only  to  overcome  the  wavering  and  feeble.  A 
motion  of  Lord  Corry's,  made  a  few  days  afterwards,  in 
order  to  prevent  any  future  scheme  of  a  Union,  after  a 
long  debate,  was  also  negatived  (by  a  majority  of  fifty- 
eight),  and  thus  concluded  all  discussion  on  the  Union 
for  that  session.  The  session,  however,  had  scarcely 
closed,  when  his  Lordship  recommenced  his  warfare 
against  his  country.  The  treasury  was  in  his  hands, 
patronage  in  his  note-book,  and  all  the  influence  which 
the  scourge  or  the  pardon,  reward  or  punishment  could 
possibly  produce  on  the  trembling  rebels,  was  openly 
resorted  to.  Lord  Cornwallis  determined  to  put  Irish 
honesty  to  the  test,  and  set  out  upon  an  experimental 
tour  through  those  parts  of  the  country  where  the  no- 
bility and  gentry  were  most  likely  to  entertain  him. 
He  artfully  selected  those  places  where  he  could  best 
make  his  way  with  corporations  at  public  dinners,  and 
with  the  aristocracy,  country  gentlemen,  and  farmers,  by 
visiting  their  mansions  and  cottages.  Ireland  was  thus 
canvassed,  and  every  gaol  was  converted  to  a  hustings. 

In  reflecting,  therefore,  on  the  extraordinary  fate  of 
Mr.  Ponsonby's  declaratory  motion  just  and  not  incon- 
siderate alarm  must  have  been  excited  in  the  mind  of 
every  man  who  had  determined  boldly  and  unequivo 
caily  lo  support  the  freedom  of  his  country. 


416  RISE    AND    FALL 

It  was  not  now  difficult  to  perceive,  that,  to  the  cool 
and  reasoning  part  of  the  nation,  melancholy  forebodings 
must  naturally  arise,  from  the  decided  absence  of  that 
cordial,  unqualified  co-operation  amongst  the  members 
of  the  opposition,  by  whose  undeviating  unanimity  alone 
the  revival  of  the  project,  and  the  probable  ruin  of  the 
country  could  be  resisted. 

It  was  evident  that,  by  the  thoughtless  conduct  of  Mr. 
Fortescue,  Lord  Cole,  and  Mr.  French,  the  conclusive 
rejection  of  the  proposal  was  prevented,  had  'hey  been 
even  one  moment  silent,  Ireland  would  have  been  a 
proud,  prosperous,  free,  tranquil,  and  productive  member 
of  the  British  Empire.  But  their  puerile  inconsistency 
lost  their  country,  gave  a  clue  to  the  Secretary,  and  the 
Government,  before  plunged  in  a  hopeless  perplexity,  and 
opened  a  wide  door  for  future  discussion,  which  Mr.  Pon 
sonby's  motion  would  have  for  ever  prevented. 

In  a  body  composed  as  the  Parliament  of  Ireland, 
though  this  misfortune  must  ever  be  deplored,  and  those 
gentlemen  for  ever  censured,  yet  such  an  event  was  not 
a  subject  for  astonishment.  A  great  number  of  those 
who  composed  the  House  were  most  inexperienced  states- 
men— they  meddled  but  little  individually  in  any  arrange- 
ment of  debates,  and  voted  according  to  their  party  or 
their  sentiments,  without  the  habit  of  any  previous  con- 
sultation. 

Such  men,  therefore,  after  the  last  division  against  the 
Minister,  could  not  suppose  he  would  again  revive  the 
question,  and  they  partook  of  the  general  satisfaction. 
Moderation  was  now  recommended,  as  the  proper  course 
for  a  loyal  opposition,  and  the  proposal  for  a  Union  hav- 
ing been  virtually  negatived,  it  was  observed  by  the 
courtly  oppositionists  to  be  at  least  unkind,  if  not  indis- 
creet, to  push  Government  further  at  a  "moment  like  th* 
present" 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  wished  to  complete  the 
victory,  could  not  shut  their  eyes  to  the  hazard  of  mode- 
rate proceedings,  and  their  zeal  led  them  to  wish  to  im- 
prove their  advantage,  and,  if  possible,  to  remove  Lord 
Cornwallis  from  the  Government,  as  a  finishing  stroke  to 
the  measure.  But  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Fortescue  and  hii 
supporters  had  miserably  deceived  them,  and  had  con 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  417 

vmced  Ihe  leaders  of  the  Opposition  that  they  were  about 
to  tread  very  uncertain  ground,  and  that  their  first  con- 
sideration should  be,  how  far  the  possibility  of  attaining 
their  ultimate  object  should  be  weighed  against  the  pro- 
bable event  of  losing  their  majority  by  another  trial  of 
strength. 

Reasoning  people  without  doors,  saw  the  danger  still 
more  clearly  than  those  who  had  individually  to  encounter 
it.  Regardless  of  the  solemn  engagements  he  had  made 
in  the  House,  and  by  which  he  had  imposed  on  many  of 
the  opposition,  the  Minister  and  his  agents  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity, nor  omitted  any  means,  of  making  good  their 
party  amongst  the  Members  who  had  not  publicly  declared 
themselves,  and  of  endeavouring  to  pervert  the  principles 
and  corrupt  the  consistency  of  those  who  had.  Lord 
Castlereagh's  ulterior  efforts  were  extensive  and  indefati- 
gable, his  spirit  revived  and  every  hour  gained  ground 
on  his  opponents.  He  clearly  perceived  that  the  ranks 
of  the  Opposition  were  too  open  to  be  strong,  and  too 
mixed  to  be  unanimous.  The  extraordinary  fate  of  Mr. 
Ponsonby's  declaration  of  rights,  and  the  debate  on  a 
similar  motion  by  Lord  Corry,  which  so  shortly  afterwards 
met  a  more  serious  negative,  proved  the  truth  of  these 
observations,  and  identified  the  persons  through  whom 
that  truth  was  to  be  afterwards  exemplified. 

The  disheartening  effects  of  Mr.  Fortescue's  conduct 
(notwithstanding  the  general  exultation  of  the  country), 
appeared  to  make  a  very  powerful  impression  on  the  public- 
mind,  it  was  assiduously  circulated  by  Government  as  a 
triumph,  and  on  all  occasions  reluctantly  alluded  to  by 
the  Anti-Unionists,  it  became  apparent  that  the  increasing: 
majority  against  the  minister,  on  the  second  division,  if 
unaccompanied  by  that  fatal  circumstance,  would  have 
effectually  established  the  progressive  power  of  the  oppo- 
sition, and  rapidly  hastened  the  upset  of  Government.* 
But  the  advantage  of  that   majority  was  lost,  and  the 

*  It  is  observable,  that  in  all  debates  of  Parliament,  "a  moment  like 
the  present"  or,  "this  is  not  tlie  time"  or,  "it  would  be  highly  incon- 
venient at  this  time"  &c.  are  invariably  used  as  arguments  by  Ministers 
when  they  have  no  substantial  reasons  to  give  for  their  refusals,  it  is  a 
•weeping  species  of  n'ply  of  great  utility,  as  it  answers  all  subjecti  and 
all  reasoning. 


IJ8  RISK    AND    FALL 

possibility  of  exciting  division  amongst  the  Anti-Unionists 
could  no  longer  be  questioned.  This  consideration  had 
an  immediate  and  extensive  effect,  the  timid  recommenced 
their  fears,  the  wavering  began  to  think  of  consequences 
the  venal  to  negociate :  and  the  public  mind,  particularly 
amongst  the  Catholics,  who  still  smarted  from  the  scourge^ 
became  so  deeply  affected,  and  so  timorously  doubtful, 
that  some  of  the  persons,  assuming  to  themselves  the  title 
of  Catholic  Leaders*  sought  an  audience,  in  order  to 
inquire  from  Marquis  Cornwallis,  "What  would  be  the 
advantage  to  the  Catholics,  if  a  Union  should  happen  to 
be  effected  in  Ireland  V 

However,  great  confidence  in  an  ultimate  crushing  of 
the  project  kept  its  place  in  the  Opposition.  The  Parlia- 
ment, unaccustomed  to  see  the  Minister  with  a  majority 
of  only  one,  considered  him  as  totally  defeated.  A  rising 
party  is  sure  to  gain  proselytes.  Government,  therefore, 
lost  ground  as  the  Opposition  gained  it ;  and  for  a  few 
days  it  was  generally  supposed  that  the  Viceroy  and 
Secretary  must  resign.  Many  of  their  adherents  shrunk 
from  them.  A  large  proportion  of  Parliament  was  far 
beyond  the  power  either  of  fear  or  corruption,  yet  the 
impartial  history  of  these  times  must  throw  a  partial 
shade  over  the  consistency  of  Ireland,  and  exhibit  some 
of  the  once  leading  characters  in  both  Houses  in  a  course 
of  the  most  humiliating,  corrupt,  and  disgusting  servility ; 
contradicting  by  the  last  act  of  their  political  lives,  the 
whole  tenor  of  their  farmer  principles,  from  the  first 
moment  they  had  the  power  of  declaring  them  to  the 
nation.  In  another  quarter,  those  who  formed  an  Oppo- 
sition to  the  Minister  on  the  question  of  a  Union,  had 
been,  and  wished  to  continue,  his  avowed  supporters  on 
every  other.  The  custom  of  the  times,  the  venality  of 
the  court,  even  the  excessive  habits  of  convivial  luxury, 
had  combined  gradually  to  blunt  the  poignancy  of  public 
spirit,  and  the  activity  of  patriotic  exertions,  on  ordinary 

*  Mr.  Bellew  (brother  to  Sir  Patrick  Beilew),  Mr.  Lynch,  and  some 
others,  had  several  audiences  with  the  Viceroy ;  the  Catholic  Bishops 
were  generally  deceived  into  the  most  disgusting  subservience,  rewards 
were  not  withheld,  Mr.  Bellew-  was  to  be  appointed  a  County  Judge,  but 
that  being  found  impracticable,  he  got  a  secret  pension,  which  he  has 
•«w  enjoyed  lor  thirty- two  years. 


Or   THE    IRISH    NATION.  411 

subjects.  The  terrors  of  the  rebellion,  scarcely  yet  extin- 
guished had  induced  many  to  cling  for  protection  round  a 
government  whose  principles  they  had  condemned,  and 
whose  politics  they  had  resisted.  The  subtle  Viceroy  knew 
full  well  how  to  make  his  advantage  of  the  moment,  and 
by  keeping  up  the  delusion,  under  the  name  of  loyalty 
and  discretion,  he  restrained  within  narrow  limits  the 
spirit  of  constitutional  independence  wherever  he  found 
he  could  not  otherwise  subdue  it.* 

*  Mr.  Curran,  Mr.  Grattan,  and  some  other  members  of  the  Opposition, 
seceded  from  the  new  Parliament.  Never  was  any  step  more  indiscreet, 
more  ill  timed,  or  to  themselves  moie  injurious;  that  the  cause  of  Ireland 
should  lose  two  such  advocates  at  the  very  moment  she  most  required 
them,  was  truly  unfortunate.  Mr.  Grattan  returned  to  Parliament  whea 
loo  late,  Mr.  Curran,  never ;  and  h  s  fine  taints  were  lost  to  hiiuwlf  mi 
ii  country  for  era 


420  RISE    AND   FAL> 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

rhe  different  views  of  the  Opposition — Opposition  not  sumVently  o»w 
ganized  or  connected — Disunion  in  consequence  of  the  Catholic  que» 
tion  —  Catholics  duped  —  Alternately  oppressed  and  fostered  —  Lorf 
Clare's  great  influence — Very  important  despatch  from  Mr.  Pitt,  to 
Lord  Cornwallis — Unprecedented  plan  of  Lord  Castlereagh — Remark 
able  dinner — The  plan  or  conspiracy — Acceded  to — Rewards  in  Per- 
spective— Meeting  of  Anti-Unionists  at  Lord  Charlemont's — Opposi- 
tion Lord6  meet — Lord  Castlereagh's  Plan  laid  before  them — Counter- 
pian  proposed — Rejected — Eari  Belmore — His  motion  to  the  samt 
effect  as  Mr.  Ponsonby's — Rejected — Very  numerous  addresses  again/* 
the  Union — Particularly  Dublin — A  Privy  Council — Lord  Clare's  vio» 
lence — Military  execution — People  killed  and  wounded — Inefficiei?  If 
brought  before  Parliament — Anti-Union  dinner — Mi  Handock  of 
Athlone,  a  conspicuous  patriot — Corrupt  state  of  the  British  Parlia* 
ment — Compared  with  that  of  Ireland  at  the  Union — Mr  Handcoc* 
bribed 

I.  The  Members  of  the  old  Opposition  who  had  been 
returned  to  the  new  Parliament  in  1797.  did  not  exceed 
fifty ;  but  several  others,  who  had  been  connected  (nnd 
some  of  them  closely)  with  Government,  showed  a  ten- 
dency, on  the  Union  alone  to  sever  themselves  from  theif 
old  attachment ;  accustomed  to  support  administration, 
they  formed  no  cordial  co-operation  with  those  who  had 
professed  a  more  extensive  principle  of  opposition ;  and 
though  they  wished  to  oppose  the  Union,  they  did  not 
wish  to  oppose  the  Minister,  and  they  acted  without 
decisive  effect,  because  they  wrought  on  too  contracted  a 
foundation. 

The  opposition  to  Union  were,  in  fact,  united  on  no 
one  question  but  that  of  the  Union,  even  in  the  measure 
of  that  opposition  they  were  not  agreed,  much  less  in  the 
mode  of  securing  a  retreat  or  of  profiting  by  a  victory. 
But  still  the  opposition  to  annexation  brought  them  closely 
together.  A  view  of  the  House  at  this  period  was  quite 
unprecedented ;  the  friends  of  Catholic  Emancipation  were 
seen  on  the  same  benches  with  those  of  Protestant  ascen* 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  421 

dency.  the  supporters  of  reform  divided  with  the  borough 
influence,  a  sense  of  common  danger  drew  men  together 
on  this  topic  who  were  dissimilar  in  sentiment,  adverse  in 
opinion,  jealous  in  interest,  and  antagonists  in  principle. 
They  conjointly  presented  a  formidable  front  to  the  enemy, 
but  possessed  within  themselves  neither  subordination  nor 
unqualified  unanimity,  qualities  which  were  essentially 
necessary  to  preserve  so  heterogeneous  a  body  from  the 
destructive  weapons  which  were  provided  for  their  over- 
throw. 

There  was  no  great  leader  whom  they  could  collec- 
tively consult  or  obey,  no  systematic  course  determined 
on  for  their  conduct,  no  pre-arranged  plan  of  proceeding 
without  doors,  or  practical  arrangement  for  internal  de- 
bate ;  their  energies  were  personal,  their  enthusiasm 
graduated,  and  their  exertions  not  gregarious.  Every- 
man formed  his  own  line  of  procedure :  the  battle  was 
hand  to  hand,  the  movements  desultory ;  whether  they 
clashed  with  the  general  interest,  or  injured  the  general 
cause,  was  hardly  contemplated,  and  seldom  perceived 
until  the  injury  had  happened. 

II.  The  talent  of  Parliament  principally  existed  amongst 
the  members  who  had  formed  the  general  opposition  to 
the  Union.  Some  habitual  friends  of  administration,  there- 
fore, who  had  on  this  single  question  seceded  from  the 
Court,  and  who  wished  to  resume  their  old  habits  on  the 
Union  being  disposed  of,  obviously  felt  a  portion  of  narrow 
jealousy  at  being  led  by  those  whom  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  oppose,  and  reluctantly  joined  in  any  liberal 
opposition  to  a  Court  which  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
supporting.  They  desired  to  vote  against  the  Union  in 
the  abstract,  but  to  commit  themselves  no  farther  against 
She  Minister.  Many,  upon  this  temporizing  and  ineffective 
principle,  cautiously  avoided  anj-  discussion,  save  upon 
the  direct  proposition ;  and  this  was  remarkable,  and  felt 
to  be  ruinous  in  the  succeeding  session.* 

But  the  strongeit  and  most  fatal  cause  of  division 
amongst  the  Members  of  the  opposition,  was  certainly 

*  It  is  worthy  of  observation,  that  Lord  Castlereagh  was  so  aware  of 
lhat  feeling  amongst  those  who  opposed  the  Union,  that,  in  1800,  Lord 
Comwallis's  speech  did  not  even  hint  at  a  revival  of  that  measure 
Hence  the  diminished  minoritv  on  Sir  Laurence  Parson's  motion. 

36 


422  RISE    AND    FALL 

theii  radical  difference  of  opinion  on  the  Catholic  question. 
Those  who  had  determined  to  support  the  Catholic  cause, 
as  the  surest  mode  of  preventing  any  future  attempts  i0 
attain  a  Union,  were  obliged  to  dissemble  their  intentions 
of  proposing  emancipation,  lest  they  should  disgust  the 
Catholic  opponents  who  acted  with  them  solely  against 
the  Uniom  Those  who  were  enemies  to  Catholic  relax- 
ation were  also  obliged  to  conceal  their  wishes,  lest  their 
determination  to  resist  that  measure  should  disgust  the 
advocates  of  emancipation,  who  had  united  with  them  on 
the  present  occasion. 

The  Viceroy  knew  mankind  too  well  to  dismiss  the 
Catholics  without  a  comfortable  conviction  of  their  certain 
t mancipation  ;  he  turned  to  them  the  honest  side  of  his 
countenance :  the  priests  bowed  before  the  soldierly  con- 
descensions of  a  starred  veteran.  The  titular  Archbishop 
was  led  to  believe  he  would  instantly  become  a  real 
prelate ;  and  before  the  negociation  concluded,  Dr.  Troy 
was  consecrated  a  decided  Unionist,  and  was  directed  to 
send  pastoral  letters  to  his  colleagues  to  promote  it. 
Never  yet  did  any  clergy  so  retrograde  as  the  Catholic 
hierarchy,  &c,  on  that  occasion.  It  is  true  that  they  were 
deceived ;  but  it  was  a  corrupt  deception,  and  they  felt  it 
during  eight  and  twenty  years.  Most  of  them  have  since 
sojourned  to  the  grave,  simple  titulars,  and  have  left  a 
double  lesson  to  the  world,  that  Priests  and  Governments 
can  rely  but  little  on  each  other,  and  that  the  people 
should  in  general  be  very  sceptical  in  relying  upon  either. 

Nothing  could  be  more  culpable  than  the  conduct  of  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  Catholic  clergy ;  the  Catholic 
body  were  misled,  or  neutralized,  throughout  the  entire  of 
that  unfortunate  era.  In  1798  they  were  hanged  ;  in  1799 
they  were  caressed  ;  in  1800  they  were  cajoled  ;  in  1801 
they  were  discarded;  and,  after  a  lapse  of  twenty-six  years, 
they  were  complaining  louder  than  when  they  were  in 
slavery.  Nothing  can  now  keep  pace  with  their  popula- 
tion but  their  poverty ;  and  no  body  of  men  ever  gave  a 
more  helping  hand  to  their  own  degradation  and  miseiy. 

Lord  Castlereagh,  in  his  nature  decided  and  persevering, 
was  stimulated  still  more  by  the  spirit  and  arrogance  of 
the  restless  and  indefatigable  Chancellor.  Lord  Claw 
had  professed  himself  an  enemy  to  the  Union ;  but,  de- ; 


OP   THE    IRISH     NATION.  423 

luded  ty  his  ambition,  he  conceived  he  might  rule  the 
British  councils,  as  he  had  governed  those  of  Ireland 
The  Union,  rejected  his  power  would  be  extinguished ;  if 
it  were  carried,  his  influence  might  be  transferred  to  a 
larger  field ;  he  therefore  determined  that  the  measure 
should  be  achieved,  whether  by  fraud,  or  force,  or  corrup- 
tion, was  to  him  a  matter,  if  not  of  indifference,  at  least 
of  no  perplexing  solicitude. 

Lord  Castlereagh  enlisted  him  willingly  under  his  ban- 
ners, whilst  the  Marquis  Cornwallis,  pertinacious,  yet 
plausible,  cajoled  men,  whom  the  address  of  Fitzgibbon 
would  have  irritated,  or  the  undisguised  corruption  of 
Castlereagh  have  disgusted  or  alarmed. 

III.  Mr.  Pitt  had,  by  a  private  despatch  to  Lord  Corn 
waiiis,  desired  that  the  measure  should  not  be  then  pressed, 
unless  he  could  be  certain  of  a  majority  of  fifty*  The 
Chancellor,  on  learning  the  import  of  that  despatch,  ex- 
postulated in  the  strongest  terms  at  so  pusillanimous  a 
decision.  His  Lordship  never  knew  the  meaning  of  the 
word  moderation  in  any  public  pursuit,  and  he  cared  not 
\\  hether  the  Union  were  carried  by  a  majority  of  one  or 
one  hundred. 

Lord  Castlereagh,  though  practically  unskilled,  was 
intuitively  artful,  he  was  cool,  whilst  Lord  Clare  was  in- 
flamed; and  Lord  Cornwallis,  as  a  soldier,  preferred  stra- 
tagem to  assault,  and  cautiously  opened  his  trenches  before 
every  assailable  member.  Lord  Castlereagh  had  reflected 
on  an  unfavourable  circumstance,  which  he  had  the  spirit 
and  policy,  as  far  as  possible,  to  counteract. 

In  the  former  session,  the  opposition  had  derived  con- 

*  The  original  despatch  I  saw  and  read ;  it  was  brought  from  Mr 
Cooke's  office  secretly,  and  shown  to  me  for  a.  particular  purpose,  and 
completely  deceived  me,  but  I  could  not  obtain  possession  of  it.  I  after- 
wards discovered  that  it  had  not  been  replaced  in  the  office.  It  was  sub- 
scribed by  Mr.  Pitt  himself,  and  the  name  of  Mr.  Bankes  occurred  more 
than  once  in  it ;  it  did  not  compliment  him. 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  that  despatch,  with  some  other  important 
papers,  was  afterwards  accidentally  dropped  in  College  Green,  and  found 
by  Doctor  Kearney,  then  Provost  of  Dublin  University.  He  told  me  he 
nad  tound  such  papers,  and  promised  to  show  them  to  me  at  a  future  day 
when  the  question  was  decided,  but  never  did.  Doctor  Kearney  was  a 
grotesque  figure,  wonderfully  short  and  droll,  but  a  man  of  learning  and 
0/  excellent"  character  in  every  respect.  He  was  afterwards  matk 
Bishop  of  Ossory,  he  wa*  an  Anti  Unionist. 


424  RISE    AND     TALL 

siderable  advantage  from  the  spirit  with  which  many  of 
the  party  had  inclined  towards  personal  hostilities ;  this, 
in  the  ensuing  session,  was  to  be  retaliated  with  interest, 
but  many  of  Lord  Castlereagh's  adherents,  though  engaged 
to  vote,  might  not  be  so  well  inclined  to  combat  for  a 
Union.  He  was  naturally  of  high  spirit,  but  this  was  not 
to  be  imparted  to  others,  nor  could  he,  prudently,  exhibit 
it  himself:  he  had  the  command  of  money,  but  not  the 
creation  of  courage,  and  his  cause  was  not  calculated  to 
generate  that  feeling;  he  therefore  devised  a  plan,  un- 
precedented, and  which  never  could  have  been  thought 
of  in  any  other  country  than  Ireland  :  it  has  not  been  the 
subject  of  any  publication.* 

IV.  He  invited  to  dinner,  at  his  house  in  Merrion  Square, 
above  twenty  of  his  most  staunch  supporters,  consisting  of 
"tried  men,"  and  men  of  "fighting  families,"  who  might 
feel  an  individual  pride  in  resenting  every  personality  of 
the  opposition,  and  in  identifying  their  own  honour  with 
the  cause  of  Government.  This  dinner  was  sumptuous  ; 
the  Champagne  and  Madeira  had  their  due  effect:  no 
man  could  be  more  condescending  than  the  noble  host. 
After  due  preparation,  the  point  was  skilfully  introduced 
by  Sir  John  Blaquiere  (since  created  Lord  de  Blaquiere,) 
who,  of  all  men,  was  best  calculated  to  promote  a  gentle- 
manly, convivial,  fighting  conspiracy ;  he  was  of  the  old 
school,  an  able  diplomatist;  and  with  the  most  polished 
manners  and  imposing  address,  he  combined  a  friendly 
heart  and  decided  spirit ;  in  polite  conviviality  he  was 
unrivalled. 

Having  sent  round  many  loyal,  mingled  with  joyous 
and  exhilarating  toasts,  he  stated,  that  he  understood  the 
opposition  were  disposed  to  personal  unkindness,  or  even 
incivilities,  towards  His  Majesty's  best  friends,  the  Union- 
ists of  Ireland.  He  was  determined  that  no  man  should 
advance  upon  him  by  degrading  the  party  he  had  adopted, 
and  the  measures  he  was  pledged  to  support.  A  lull 
bumper  proved  his  sincerity,  the  subject  was  discussed 

*  It  was  communicated  to  me  on  the  morning  after  its  development,  by 
a  Member  of  Parliament,  who  was  himself  present  and  engaged  in  the 
enterprise,  but  whose  real  principles  were  decidedly  averse  to  a  Union,  to 
which  he  had  been  induced  to  give  his  insincere  support ;  but  though  h« 
had  ample  spirit,  ne  had  too  much  good  sense  to  quarrel  on  the  suhjec* 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  428 

with  great  glee,  and  some  of  the  company  began  to  feel  a 
Real  for  "  actual  service." 

Lord  Castlereagh  affected  some  coquetry,  lest  this  idea 
should  appear  to  have  originated  with  him  ;  but,  when  he 
perceived  that  many  had  made  up  their  minds  to  act  even 
on  the  offensive,  he  calmly  observed,  that  some  mode 
should,  at  all  events,  be  taken  to  secure  the  constant  pre- 
sence of  a  sufficient  number  of  the  Government  friends 
during  the  discussion,  as  subjects  of  the  utmost  import- 
ance were  often  totally  lost  for  want  of  due  attendance. 
Never  did  a  sleight-of-hand  man  juggle  more  expertly. 

One  of  his  Lordship's  prepared  accessories  (as  if  it 
were  a  new  thought)  proposed,  humourously,  to  have  a 
dinner  for  twenty  or  thirty  every  day,  in  one  of  the  com- 
mittee chambers,  where  they  could  be  always  at  hand  to 
make  up  a  House,  or  for  any  emergency  which  should 
call  for  an  unexpected  reinforcement,  during  any  part  of 
the  discussion. 

The  novel  idea  of  such  a  detachment  of  legislators  was 
considered  whimsical  and  humourous,  and,  of  course,  was 
not  rejected.  Wit  and  puns  began  to  accompany  the 
bottle  ;  Mr.  Cooke,  the  Secretary,  then,  with  significant 
nods  and  smirking  inuendos,  began  to  circulate  his  official 
towards  to  the  company.  The  hints  and  the  claret  united 
to  raise  visions  of  the  most  gratifying  nature,  every  man 
became  in  a  prosperous  state  of  official  pregnancy :  em- 
bryo judges,  counsel  to  boards,  envoys  to  foreign  courts, 
compensation  pensioners,  placemen  at  chance,  and  com- 
missioners in  assortments,  all  revelled  in  the  anticipation 
of  something  substantial  to  be  given  to  every  Member 
who  would  do  the  Secretary  the  honour  of  accepting  it. 

The  scheme  was  unanimously  adopted,  Sir  John  Bla- 
quiere  pleasantly  observed  that,  at  all  events,  they  would 
be  sure  of  a  good  cook  at  their  dinners.  After  much  wit, 
and  many  flashes  of  convivial  bravery,  the  meeting  sepa- 
rated after  midnight,  fully  resolved  to  eat,  drink,  speak, 
and  fight  for  Lord  Castlereagh.  They  so  far  kept  their 
words,  that  the  supporters  of  the  Union  indisputably 
showed  more  personal  spirit  than  their  opponents  during 
the  session.  ;■  *  • 

The  house  of  Lord  Charlemont  was  the  place  of  meet 
mg  for  the  leading  Members,  opponents  of  the  Union ;  the 

36* 


12h  RISE    AND   FALL 

hereditary  patriotism  and  honour  of  his  son,  the  pieseut 
Earl,  pointed  him  out  for  general  confidence.  The  next 
morning  after  Lord  Castlereagh's  extraordinary  coterie, 
a  meeting  was  held  at  Charlemont  House,  to  consider  of 
the  best  system  to  be  pursued  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
to  preserve  the  country  from  the  impending  ruin. 

No  man  in  Ireland  was  more  sincere  than  Lord  Char- 
lemont. Lord  Corry  was  by  far  more  ardent,  and  Lord 
Leitrim  more  reserved,  in  their  manners :  the  Commoners 
who  attended,  were  alike  honest  and  honourable :  their 
objects  were  the  same,  but  their  temperature  was  un- 
equal ;  and  this  meeting,  with  very  few  exceptions,  was 
exactly  the  reverse  of  that  of  the  Minister  :  patriotic,  dis- 
interested, indedendent,  and  talented ;  but  of  a  calm, 
gentle,  and  reflective  character. 

Lord  Castlereagh's  project  against  their  courage  was 
communicated  to  most  of  them  ;  and  three  distinct  pro- 
posals (it  would,  perhaps,  be  improper  to  state  them  now) 
were  made  on  that  occasion. 

In  the  judgment  of  the  proposer  (who  still  retains  the 
same  opinion,)  either  of  them,  if  adopted  with  spirit  and 
adhered  to  with  perseverance,  would  have  defeated  the 
Minister  ;  but  the  great  body  of  the  meeting  disapproved 
of  them.  Mr.  Grattan,  Lord  Corry,  Mr.  John  Ball,  Co- 
lonel O'Donnell,  Mr.  O'Donnell,  Mr.  Egan,  and  some 
other  gentlemen,  zealously  approved  of  by  far  the  most 
decisive  and  spirited  of  the  three  expedients.  The  pro- 
poser well  knew  that  no  ordinary  measures  could  be  suc- 
cessful against  the  Government,  and  that  by  nothing  but 
extremes  could  the  Union  be  even  suspended.  The  re- 
sidue of  the  meeting  were,  perhaps,  more  discreet ;  and 
never  was  there  seen  a  more  decided  predisposition  to 
tranquillity,  than  in  the  majority  of  the  distinguished 
men  at  that  important  assembly  of  Irish  patriots. 

However,  on  the  very  first  debate,  in  1300,  it  appeared 
indisputably  that  Lord  Castlereagh  had  diffused  his  own 
spirit  into  many  of  his  adherents,  and  it  became  equal  1 J 
apparent,  that  it  was  not  met  with  corresponding  ardour 
by  the  opposition:  to  this,  however,  there  was  one  memo- 
rable exception,  to  Mr.  Grattan  alone  was  it  reserved  to 
support  the  spirit  of  his  party,  and  to  exemplify  the  gal- 
lantry he  so  strongly. recommended  to  others.    lioujfca  bf 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATIOK.  427 

M:  Cony,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  he  gave  him 
no  lime  lor  repentance  ;  and,  considering  the  temper  of 
the  times,  the  propensity  of  the  people,  and  the  intense 
agitation  upon  the  subject,  it  is  marvellous,  that  this  was 
the  only  instance  of  bloodshed  during  the  contest.  Mr. 
Grattan  had  shot  him  at  day  break,  and  the  intelligence 
arrived  whilst  the  House  was  yet  sitting,  its  effect  was 
singular.  The  project  at  Lord  Castlereagh's  well  war- 
ranted reprisals.* 

V.  Lord  Corry,  now  Earl  Belmore,  was  one  of  the  most 
zealous,  unflinching,  and  respectable  of  the  Anti-Union- 
ists :  a  young  nobleman  of  considerable  talent  and  in- 
tegrity, he  felt  sorely  the  ruin  which  the  flippant  imbe- 
cility and  short  vision  of  Mr.  Fortescue  and  Lord  Cole 
had  brought  upon  the  country.  He  could  not  believe  but 
that  all  those  who  had  composed  the  majority  against  the 
Union,  would,  on  recovering  their  recollection,  see  the  ne- 
cessity of  Mr.  Ponsonby's  motion,  and  he  determined,  by 
a  declaration  of  a  similar  purport,  to  give  them  an  op- 
portunity of  recovering  from  that  error  which  they  inad- 
vertantly fell  into. 

In  this,  however,  his  Lordship  was  mistaken,  the  ex- 
treme impolicy  of  any  pledge  of  eternal  enmity  to  Union 
had,  from  the  last  day,  been  sedulously  inculcated  by  th« 
friends  of  Government,  upon  every  feeble-minded  or 
wavering  member;  and  Lord  Cony's  motion,  after  an 
animated,  long,  and  high-blooded  debate,  was  definitively 
negatived  by  a  considerable  majority,  and  gave  another 
handle  to  the  Viceroy  for  ulterior  efforts. 

Though  the  fate  of  Lord  Corry's  motion  was  of  a  most 
distracting  nature,  it  made  but  little  impression  on  the 
confidence  of  the  Anti- Unionists  ;  they  could  not  bring 
themselves  to  suppose  that  a  measure  so  vital,  so  con- 
clusive, and  so  generally  detested,  being  once  negatived, 
could  again  be  proposed  by  the  (defeated  ministers)  to 
the  same  Parliament.  Thousands  of  addresses  were 
presented,  and  resolutions  passed  against  any  further  dip>- 
cussion,  and,  for  a  time,  rejoicing  and  confidence  wfro 
the  general  subjects  throughout  the  whole  nation. 

*  Two  of  the  three  expedients  proposed,  at  first  view,  might  appt*i 
extravagant,  and  were  called  impracticable  ;  one  was  certainly  easy,  ai. 
wwe  loyal,  anl  oithei  of  them  would  have  been  effective. 


42H  RISE    AND    FALL 

VI.  The  rejoicings  in  the  metropolis  exceeded  all  other* 
Dublin  was  more  than  any  other  place  interested  in 
defeating  a  measure  which  must,  by  the  consequent 
emigration  of  the  nobles  and  commoners,  deprive  it  of 
every  advantage  which  their  splendour  and  luxury  of 
society,  their  grand  and  numerous  establishments,  influx 
of  strangers,  and  expenditure  of  great  fortunes  amongst 
its  citizens,  must  confer  upon  a  city  which  was  not  com- 
mercial. 

These  ebullitions  of  joy  and  gratitude  to  their  deli- 
verers, and  hostility  to  the  Unionists,  were  excessive. 
Lord  Castlereagh  was  hung  in  effigy  and  burnt  facing 
the  door  of  the  author,  in  Merrion  Square ;  but  no  dis- 
turbance occurred  that  could  possibly  justify  military  ex- 
ecution. The  violent  spirit,  however,  of  the  Chancellor, 
anticipated  some  attack  on  his  partisans,  which  conscious 
culpability,  a  heated  imagination,  and  his  own  terrors  had 
raised  up  as  a  spectre  before  him,  and  led  him  to  counte- 
nance one  of  the  most  unjustifiable.  On  the  universality 
of  the  rejoicings  and  rather  boisterous  demonstrations 
of  joy,  at  the  defeat  of  Government,  his  alarmed  Lord- 
ship under  colour  of  taking  precautions  to  preserve  the 
peace,  called  a  Privy  Council  to  the  Castle,  which  might 
screen  himself  undei  the  authority  of  that  body,  from  the 
individual  imputation  of  those  measures  of  severity, 
which  he  determined  to  put  in  force  against  the  rejoicing 
population,  should  any  feasible  opportunity  be  given  foi 
the  interference  of  the  military.  This  is  a  matter  of  fact, 
but  care  was  taken  that  any  order  which  might  be  given, 
or  the  proximate  authority  through  which  any  wanton 
violence  might  be  committed  amongst  the  people,  should 
not  be  made  public. 

About  nine  at  night,  a  party  of  the  military  stationed 
in  the  old  Custom  House,  near  Essex  Bridge,  silently  sal- 
lied out  with  trailed  arms,  without  any  civil  magistrate, 
and  only  a  serjeant  to  command  them  ;  on  arriving  at 
Capel-street  the  populace  were  in  the  act  of  violently 
huzzaing  for  their  friends,  and,  of  course,  with  equal 
vehemence  execrating  their  enemies ;  but  no  riot  act  was 
read,  no  magistrate  appeared,  and  no  disturbance  or 
tumult  existed  to  warrant  military  interference. 

The  soldiers,  however,  having  taken  a  position  a  shor* 


Or    THE    IRISH    NATION.  429 

way  down  the  street,  without  being  in  any  way  assailed, 
fired  a  volley  of  balls  amongst  the  people  ;  of  course  a 
(ew  were  killed  and  some  wounded  ;  amongst  the  former 
were  a  woman  and  a  boy,  a  man  fell  dead  at  the  feet  of 
Mr.  P.  Hamilton,  the  Kind's  Proctor  of  the  Admiralty, 
who,  as  a  mere  spectator,  was  viewing  the  illumination. 
This  is  only  mentioned  to  evince  the  violent  spirit  which 
guided  the  Government  of  that  day,  and  the  tyrannic 
means  which  were  resorted  to,  to  terrify  the  people  from 
testifying  their  zeal  at  their  deliverance,  as  they  fancied, 
from  the  proposed  annexation. 

This  outrage  was  made  a  subject  of  complaint  to  Par- 
liament, but  so  well  were  the  actors  concealed,  that  nothing 
could  be  developed  to  lead  to  punishment.  The  rejoicings 
however,  were  neither  ended  nor  checked  by  military 
execution,  and,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  session,  the 
same  spirit  of  hostility  to  the  Union  remained  not  only 
as  unsubdued,  but  still  more  decided  than  at  its  com- 
mencement. 

A  most  remarkable  proof  of  the  shameless  lengths,  a* 
that  period,  resorted  to  by  the  Viceroy  and  Minister  to 
gain  over  a  sufficient  number  of  the  Anti-Unionists  against 
the  ensuing  sessions,  occurred  immediately  after  the  close 
of  the  session  of  1799. 

VII.  A  public  dinner  of  all  the  patriotic  members  was 
had  in  Dublin  to  commemorate  the  rescue  of  their  country 
from  so  imminent  a  danger.  One  hundred  and  ten  mem- 
bers of  Parliament  sat  down  to  that  splendid  and  trium- 
phant entertainment. 

Never  was  a  more  cordial,  happy  assemblage  of  men 
of  rank,  consideration,  and  of  proven  integrity,  collected 
in  one  chamber,  than  upon  that  remarkable  occasion. 
Every  man's  tried  and  avowed  principles  were  supposed 
to  be  untaintable,  and  pledged  to  his  own  honour  and 
his  country's  safety ;  and  amongst  others,  Mr.  Handcock, 
member  for  Athlone,  appeared  to  be  conspicuous  ;  he 
spoke  strongly,  gave  numerous  Anti-Union  toasts,  vowed 
his  eternal  hostility  to  so  infamous  a  measure,  pledged 
himself  to  God  and  man  to  resist  it  to  extremities,  and, 
to  finish  and  record  his  sentiments,  he  had  composed  an 
Anti-Union  song  of  many  stanzas,  which  he  sung  himself 
with  a  general  chorus,  to  celebrate  the  spirit,  the  cauae, 


490  RI3E    AN©    FALL 

and  the  patriotism  of  the  meeting ;  this  was  encored  more 
than  once  by  the  company,  and  he  withdrew  towards  day 
with  the  reputation  of  being  in  1799,  the  most  pure,  un- 
flinching opponent  of  the  measure  he  so  cordially  resisted. 

From  that  day,  Lords  Cornvvallis  and  Castlereagh 
wisely  marked  him  out  as  one  of  their  opponents  who 
should  be  gained  over  on  any  terms. 

Human  nature  is  the  same  in  every  part  of  the  globe; 
wherever  ambition,  vanity  or  avarice  take  root,  and  become 
ruling  passions,  their  vegetation  may  be  checked  for  a 
day,  but  the  root  is  perennial :  and  Ireland  had  no  reason 
to  suppose  nature  would  favour  her  by  an  unqualified 
exemption  of  her  representatives  from  those  alluring  vices 
which  she  had  so  profusely  lavished  on  and  exemplified 
in  the  British  Parliament,  that  at  length  it  became  so  poli 
tically  vicious  and  intolerably  corrupt,  that  the  remedy  of 
a  democratic  reform,  in  the  Commons,  or  more  properly, 
a  recurrence  to  the  theory  of  the  constitution,  was  found 
indispensable  to  secure  the  remains  of  that  constitution 
against  the  overwhelming  influence  of  the  Peers  and  the 
Diigarchy  which  menaced  its  annihilation. 

It  was,  therefore,  the  very  summit  of  British  egotism 
and  injustice,  to  pretend  that  the  corrupt  state  of  the  Irish 
Parliament  formed  a  leading  and  just  ground  for  alto- 
gether extinguishing  its  existence,  though  it  appears  in 
full  proof,  that  in  proportion  to  their  respective  numbers, 
the  British  Commons  at  the  period  of  the  Irish  Union 
contained  one  fourth  more  corrupt,  corruptible,  and  in- 
fluenced members  than  that  of  Ireland  at  any  period,  and 
that  the  British  Minister  on  the  regency  question,  intimi 
dated,  influenced,  or  corrupted  the  British  House  of 
Commons,  when  that  of  Ireland  was  found  pure  enough 
to  resist  all  his  efforts,  and  support  the  heir  apparent. 

The  English  people,  therefore,  from  a  recurrence  to 
unequivocal  facts,  and  from  a  sad  experience  of  the  infinite 
ease  with  which  any  minister  corrupted  and  controlled  at 
pleasure  their  own  Parliament,  will  scarcely  believe  that 
all  the  arts,  the  money,  the  titles,  the  offices,  the  bribes 
their  minister  could  bestow,  all  the  influence  he  possessed, 
all  the  patronage  he  could  grant,  all  the  promises  he  could 
make,  all  the  threats  he  could  use,  all  the  tenors  he  could 
txcite,  all  the  deprivations  he  could  inflict,  could  seduce 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  431 

or  warp  away  scarcely  more  than  a  half  of  the  members 
of  the  Irish  Commons,  from  their  duty  to  their  country, 
and  that  on  the  question  of  annexation  by  union,  his 
utmost  efforts  could  not  influence  more  than  eight  above 
a  moiety  of  their  number;  yet,  with  only  158  out  of  300. 
which  in  England  would  be  considered  a  defeat,  he  per- 
severed and  effected  ihe  extinguishment  of  the  legislature, 
a  majority,  which,  on  any  important  question  would  have 
cashiered  a  British  minister.  Yet  such  was  the  fact  in 
Ireland ;  and  the  division  of  the  5th  and  6th  February, 
1800,  on  the  Union,  will  remain  an  eternal  record  of  the 
unrivalled  incorruptible  purity  of  115  members  of  that 
Parliament.  This  observation  is  matter  of  absolute  fact ; 
it  may  be  proper  to  give  it  even  by  anticipation,  as  an 
illustration,  and  a  fact  of  which  the  English  people  seem 
to  have  been  totally  ignorant.  For  her  own  sake  probably 
England  will  soon  recur  to  Irish  history,  where  she  will 
find  her  long  sufferings,  and  more  unshaken  loyalty  to  her 
English  kings  than  in  any  other  country  or  portion  of  her 
people.* 

This  not  misplaced  digression  will  be  considered  as  a 
prelude  to  the  sequel  of  Mr.  Handcock,  being  a  sample 
and  a  warning  to  England  of  what  might  be  also  the  fate 
of  their  own  representation. 

The  blandishments  of  the  crafty  Viceroy,  were  now 
unsparingly  lavished  on  Mr.  Handcock ;  simple  money 
would  not  do,  they  endeavoured  to  persuade  him  that  his 
principles  were  disloyal,  his  song  was  sedition,  and  that 
rurther  opposition  might  end  in  treason  ;  still  he  held  out 
until  title  was  added  to  the  bribe,  his  own  conscience  was 
not  strong  enough  to  resist  the  charge,  the  vanity  of  his 
family  lusted  for  nobility.  He  wavered,  but  he  yielded ; 
his  vows,  his  declaration,  his  song,  all  vanished  before 
vanity,  and  the  year  1800  saw  Mr.  Handcock  of  Athlone 
Lord  Castlemaine.  But  the  reputation  of  a  renegade  was 
embodied  with  the  honours  of  his  family,  and  pecuniary 
compensation  for  a  Parliamentary  return  could  do  no 
mischief  to  his  public  reputation ;  he  became  a  strong 
tu[  porter  of  the  Union. 

•  V:de  ante,  pagt  226 


439  RISE   AND  FAl.li 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

Felons  in  the  gaols  induced,  by  promise  of  pardon,  to  sign  petitions  u 
favour  of  the  Union — Every  means  of  corruption  resorted  to  by  the 
Viceroy — Viceroy  doubtful  of  future  support — Resorted  to  Place  Bill 
— Unparalleled  measure  of  public  bribery  avowed  by  Lord  Castle- 
reagh — Bill  to  raise  X  1,500,000,  for  bribes — Grave  reflection  on  the 
King's  assenting  to  an  avowed  act  of  corruption — A  few  bribes  called 
Compensation — The  British  Parliament  had  anticipated  the  proposal- 
Lord  Cornwallis's  speech  peculiarly  artful — Lord  Loftus  moves  the 
address — Lord  Castlereagh's  reason — Sir  Laurence  Parson's  important 
motion  and  speech — Debate  continued  all  night — Lord  Castlereagh's 
plan  put  into  execution — Mr.  Bushe — Mr.  Plunket — Mr.  St.  George 
Daly — His  character — His  attack  on  Mr.  Bushe — On  Mr.  Plunket— 
Replied  to  by  Mr.  Barrington — Mr.  Peter  Burrows — Affecting  appear- 
ance of  Mr.  Grattan  in  the  House  of  Commons — Returned  for  Wicklow 
the  preceding  evening — The  impediment  laid  by  Government — Re- 
turned at  midnight — Entered  the  house  at  seven  in  the  morning  in  a 
debilitated  state — Description  of  his  entry — Powerful  sensation  caused 
by  his  splendid  oration — Mr.  Corry  induced  to  reply — No  effect  on  the 
House — The  three  Bagwells  seceded  from  Government — Lord  Ormond 
changed  to  the  minister — Mr.  Arthur  Browne's  tergiversation — Divi- 
gion — Mr.  Foster's  speech — Important  incident — Bad  conduct  of  the 
clergy — Very  singular  circumstance — Mr.  Annesley  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  the  Union — Bishop  of  Clogher  returns  Mr.  Annesley  to 
Parliament — Messrs.  Ball  and  King  petition — Succeed — Mr.  Annesley 
declared  not  duly  elected — Left  the  chair  and  quitted  the  House — Not 
a  legal  chairman — Shameful  and  palpable  act  of  corruption  by  Sir 
William  Gladowe  Newcomen — Bribe  proved — Bribery  of  Mr.  Knox 
and  Mr.  Crowe — Their  speeches  against  the  Union — The  Earl  of 
Belvidere  most  palpably  bribed  to  change  sides — His  resolutions — Mr 
Knox  and  Mr.  Crowe  bribed — Mr.  Usher  bribed  to  secrecy — The  cor- 
rupt agreement  of  Mr.  Crowe  and  Mr.  Knox  to  vacate  their  seats  for 
Union  members,  in  presence  of  Mr.  Usher,  a  Parson — The  terms 
with  Lord  Castlereagh — Mr.  Charles  Ball's  affecting  conduct — The 
Anti-Union  members,  despairing,  withdraw  in  a  body — Last  sitting  of 
the  Irish  Parliament — The  House  surrounded  by  military — Most 
affecting  scene — Bad  consequences  to  England — Unhappiness  of  the 
Speaker — Ireland  extinguished. 

I,  It  is  not  possible  to  comprise  in  a  single  volume  a 
tithe  of  the  means  and  measures  of  every  description, 
resorted  to  by  the  Viceroy  and  Secretary,  not  only  to 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  4^3 

seduce  the  members,  but  to  procure  addresses  favourable 
to  their  views,  from  every  or  any  rank  or  description  of 
people,  from  the  first  rank  to  the  very  lowest  order, 
beggars,  cottagers,  tradesmen,  every  individual  who  could 
be  influenced,  were  tempted  to  put  their  names  or  marks 
to  addresses,  not  one  word  of  which  they  understood  the 
intent,  still  less  the  ruinous  result  of.  Even  public 
instances  were  adduced,  some  mentioned  in  Parliament, 
and  not  denied,  of  felons  in  the  gaols  purchasing  pardon, 
or  transmutation,  by  signatures,  or  by  forging  names,  to 
Union  eulogiums. 

English  generals,  who,  at  a  moment  when  martial  law 
existed,  or  a  recollection  of  its  execution  was  still  fresh  in 
every  memory,  could  not  fail  to  have  their  own  influence 
over  proclaimed  districts  and  bleeding  peasantry;  of 
course,  their  success  in  procuring  addresses  to  Parliament, 
was  not  limited  either  by  their  power,  their  disposition,  or 
their  instructions. 

The  Anti-Union  addresses,  innumerable  and  fervid,  in 
their  very  nature  voluntary,  and  the  signatures  of  high 
consideration,  were  stigmatized  by  the  title  of  seditious  and 
disloyal ;  whilst  those  of  the  compelled,  the  bribed,  and 
the  culprit  were  printed  and  circulated  by  every  means 
that  the  treasury,  or  the  influence  of  the  Government, 
could  effect. 

Mr.  Darby,  High  Sheriff  of  King's  County,  and  Major 
Rogers  of  the  artillery,  had  gone  so  far  as  to  place  two 
six-pounders  towards  the  doors  of  the  Court  House,  where 
the  gentlemen  and  freeholders  of  the  county  were  assem- 
bling to  address  as  Anti-Unionists ;  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  that  the  dread  of  grape  shot  not  only  stopped 
those,  but  numerous  meetings  for  similar  purposes;  yet 
this  was  one  of  me  means  taken  to  prevent  the  expression 
of  public  meetings  without,  and  formed  a  proper  com- 
parison  for  the  measures  resorted  to,  within  the  walls  of 
Parliament. 

As  this  volume  cannot  detail  the  innumerable  circuni 
stances  and  episodes  which  a  perfect  history  of  those  times 
wouid  embody,  it  may  be  enough  to  say,  that  if  the 
English  readers  of  this  work  will  imagine  any  act  that  z-z 
indefatigable,  and,  on  this  subject,  the  most  corrupt  of 
Governments  could  by  possibility  resort  to,    to  carry  t 

37 


434  RISE    AND    KALI, 

measure  they  had  determined  on ;  such  readers  caimoi 
imagine  acts  more  illegal,  unconstitutional,  and  corrupt, 
than  those  of  the  Viceroy  of  Ireland,  his  secretary  and 
under-secretary,  employed,  from  the  close  of  the  session 
of  1799  to  that  of  1800 ;  in  the  last  of  the  Irish  Parlia- 
ments every  thing  therefore  is  passed  over,  or  but  slightly 
touched  on,  till  the  opening  of  the  last  session. 

II.  Lords  Coruwallis  and  Castlereagh,  having  made 
good  progress  during  the  recess,  now  discarded  all  secrecy 
and  reserve.  To  recite  the  various  acts  of  simple  metallic 
corruption  which  were  practised  without  any  reserve, 
during  the  summer  of  1799,  are  too  numerous  for  this 
volume.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  describe  the  proceedings, 
without  particularizing  the  individuals.  Many  of  the 
Peers,  and  several  of  the  Commoners  had  the  patronage 
of  boroughs,  the  control  of  which  was  essential  to  the 
success  of  the  Minister's  project.  These  patrons  Lord 
Castlereagh  assailed  by  every  means  which  his  power  and 
situation  afforded.  Lord  Coruwallis  was  the  remote,  Lord 
Castlereagh  the  intermediate,  and  Mr.  Secretary  Cooke, 
the  immediate  agents  on  many  of  these  bargains.  Lord 
Shannon,  The  Marquis  of  Ely,  and  several  other  Peers 
commanding  votes,  after  much  coquetry,  had  been  secured 
during  the  first  session  ;  but  the  defeat  of  Government 
rendered  their  future  support  uncertain.  The  parlia- 
mentary patrons  had  breathing  time  after  the  preceding 
session,  and  began  to  tremble  for  their  patronage  and 
importance  ;  and  some  desperate  step  became  necessary 
to  Government  to  insure  a  continuance  of  the  support  of 
these  personages.  This  object  gave  rise  to  a  measure 
which  the  British  nation  will  scarcely  believe  possible, 
its  enormity  is  without  parallel. 

Lord  Castlereagh's  first  object  was  to  introduce  into 
the  House,  by  means  of  the  Place  Bill,  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  dependents  to  balance  all  opposition.  He  then 
boldly  announced  his  intention  to  turn  the  scale,  by  bribes 
to  all  who  would  accept  them,  under  the  name  of  compen- 
sation for  the  loss  of  patronage  and  interest.  He  pub- 
licly declared,  first,  that  every  nobleman  who  returned 
members  to  Parliament  should  be  paid,  in  cash  15.00GJ, 
for  every  member  so  returned  ;  secondly,  that  every 
member  who  had  purchased  a  seat  in  Parliament  should 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  436 

have  his  purchase-money  repaid  to  him,  by  the  Treasury 
of  Ire-land  ;  thirdly,  that  all  members  of  Parliament,  ot 
others,,  who  were  losers  by  a  Union,  should  be  fully  re- 
compensed for  their  losses,  and  that  1,500,000/.  should  be 
devoted  to  this  service :  in  other  terms,  all  who  support- 
ed his  measure  were,  under  some  pretence  or  other,  tc 
share  in  this  bank  of  corruption. 

A  declaration  so  flagitious  and  treasonable  was  never 
publicly  made  in  any  country  ;  but  it  had  a  powerful 
effect  in  his  favour ;  and,  before  the  meeting  of  Palia- 
ment,  he  had  secured  a  small  majoriy,  (as  heretofore 
mentioned,)  of  eight  above  a  moiety  of  the  members,  and 
ne  courageously  persisted. 

After  the  debate  on  the  Union  in  1800,  he  performed 
his  promise,  and  brought  in  a  Bill  to  raise  one  million 
and  a  half  of  money  upon  the  Irish  people,  nominally  to 
compensate,  but  really  to  bribe  their  representatives,  for 
betraying  their  honour  and  selling  their  country.  This 
Bill  was  but  feebly  resisted  ;  the  divisions  of  January 
and  February  (1800)  had  reduced  the  success  of  the 
Government  to  a  certainty,  and  all  further  opposition 
was  abandoned.  It  was  unimportant  to  Lord  Castle- 
reagh,  who  received  the  plunder  of  the  nation  ;  the  taxes 
were  levied,  and  a  vicious  partiality  was  effected  in  the 
partition. 

The  assent  to  the  Bill  by  his  Majesty,  as  King  of  Ire- 
land, gives  rise  to  perhaps  the  most  grave  consideration 
suggested  in  these  Memoirs. 

A  king,  bound  by  the  principles  of  the  British  Consti- 
tution, giving  his  sacred  and  voluntary  fiat  to  a  Bill  to 
levy  taxes  for  the  compensation  of  members  of  Parlia- 
ment, for  their  loss  of  the  opportunities  of  selling  what  it 
was  criminal  to  sell  or  purchase,  could  scarcely  be  be- 
lieved by  the  British  people. 

It  may  be  curious  to  consider  how  the  English  would 
endure  the  proposal  of  such  a  measure  in  their  own 
country,  a  British  Premier  who  should  advise  his  Majesty 
to  give  his  assent  to  such  a  statute,  would  experience  the 
utmost  punishment  that  the  severest  law  of  England 
could  inflict  for  that  enormity.  Nor  should  the  Irish 
people  be  blamed  for  refusing  to  acquiesce  in  a  measure 
which  was  carried  in  direct  violation  of  the  law,  and  in- 


436  RISE    AND    FALL 

fraction  of  the  statutes  against  bribery  and  corruption, 
and  in  defiance  of  every  precept  moral  and  political. 

There  were  times  when  Mr.  Pitt  would  have  lost  his 
head  for  a  tithe  of  his  Government  in  Ireland  :  Stafford 
was  an  angel  compared  to  that  celebrated  statesman. 

When  the  compensation  statute  had  received  the  royal 
assent,  the  Viceroy  appointed  four  commissioners  to  carry 
its  provisions  into  execution.  Three  were  Members  of 
Parliament,  whose  salaries  of  1200/.  a  year  each  (with 
probable  advantages)  were  a  tolerable  consideration  for 
their  former  services.  The  Honourable  Mr.  Annesley, 
Secretary  Hamilton,  and  Dr.  Duigenan,  were  the  princi- 
pal commissioners  of  that  extraordinary  distribution. 

It  is  however  to  be  lamented,  that  the  records  of  the 
proceedings  have  been  unaccountably  disposed  of.  A 
voluminous  copy  of  claims,  accepted  and  rejected,  was 
published,  and  partially  circulated ;  but  the  great  and 
important  grants,  the  private  pensions,  and  occult  com- 
pensations, have  never  been  made  public,  further  than 
ty  those  who  received  them.*    It  is  known  that 

£       s.   d 

Lord  Shannon  received  for  his  patronage  in  the 

Commons       .  . 

The  Marquis  of  Ely    .... 
Lord  Clanmorris,  besides  a  Peerage 
Lord  Belvidere,  besides  his  douceur 
Sir  Hercules  Langrishe  .     . 

III.  At  length,  the  Parliament  being  sufficiently  ar 
ianged  to  give  Government  a  reasonable  assurance  of 
success,  Lord  Castlereagh  determined  to  feel  the  pulse  of 
the  House  of  Commons  distinctly  before  he  proposed  the 
measure  of  the  Union. 

*.  The  extraordinary  claims  for  compensation,  and  some  extraordinary 
grants  by  the  Commissioners,  would,  on  any  other  occasion,  be  a  fit  sub- 
ject for  ridicule.  But  the  application  of  one  million  mid  a  half  sterling, 
to  purposes  so  public  and  so  vile,  renders  it  an  eternal  blot  on  the  Gov- 
erment  in  Treland,  and  on  the  minister  and  cabinet  of  England  for  per- 
mitting the  King  to  give  the  royal  assent  to  so  indisputably  corrupt  a 
statute. 

Amongst  other  curious  claims  for  Union  CompensationSyin  the  Report 
minted  and,  circulated,  appear,  one  from  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  rat- 
catcher at  the  Castle,  for  decrease  of  employment;  another  from  the 
necessary  woman  of  the  Privy  Council  of  England,  for  increased  trouble 
oi  her  department ;  with  numerous  others  of  the  same  quality 


45,000 

0 

0 

45,000 

0 

0 

23,000 

0 

0 

15,000 

0 

0 

15,000 

0 

0 

OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  437 

The  British  Parliament  had  already  framed  the  terms 
en  which  the  proposition  was  to  be  founded,  giving  to  its 
own  project  the  complexion  of  a  favour,  and  triumphing 
by  anticipation  over  the  independence  of  Ireland. 

This  was  a  masterpiece  of  arrogance  ;  and  it  was  de- 
termined to  try  the  feelings  of  the  Commons  by  a  negative 
measure,  before  the  insulting  one  should  be  substantially 
propounded  to  them.  The  15th  day  of  January,  1800  (the 
last  session  of  the  Irish  Parliament,)  gave  rise  to  a  debate 
of  the  most  acrimonious  nature,  and  of  great  importance. 

The  speech  of  Lord  Cornwallis  from  the  throne  was 
expected  to  avow  candidly  the  determination  of  the  Min- 
ister to  propose,  and  if  possible  achieve,  a  Legislative 
Union.  Every  man  came  prepared  to  hear  that  proposal, 
but  a  more  crafty  course  was  taken  by  the  Secretary. 

To  the  surprise  of  the  Anti-Unionists,  the  Viceroy's 
speech  did  not  even  tiint  at  the  measure,  the  suggestion 
of  a  Union  was  sedulously  avoided.  Lord  Viscount  Loftus 
(now  Marquis  of  Ely)*  moved  the  address,  which  was  as 
vague  as  the  speech  was  empty.  Lord  Loftus  was  another 
of  those  young  noblemen  who  were  emitted  by  their  con- 
nections to  mark  their  politics  :  but  neither  the  cause  nor 
his  Lordship's  oration  conferred  any  honour  on  the  au- 
thor ;  and  his  speech  would  have  answered  any  other 
subject  just  as  well  as  that  upon  which  it  was  uttered. 

There  was  not  a  point  in  the  Viceroy's  speech  intended 
to  be  debated.  Lord  Castlereagh,  having  judiciously  col- 
lected his  flock,  was  better  enabled  to  decide  on  numbers 
and  to  count  with  sufficient  certainty  on  the  result  of  his 
labours  since  the  preceeding  session,  without  any  hasty  or 
premature  disclosure  of  his  definitive  measure. 

This  negative  and  insidious  mode  of  proceeding,  how- 
ever, could  not  be  permitted  by  the  opposition  ;  and  Sir 
Laurence  Parsons,  after  one  of  the  most  able  and  luminous 
speeches  he  had  ever  uttered,  moved  an  amendment,  de- 
claratory of  the  resolution  of  Parliament  to  preserve  the 
Constitution  as  established  in  1782,  and  to  support  the 
freedom  and  independence  of  the  nation.     This  motion 

*  His  Lordship,  who  took  so  prominent  and  invidious  a  part  in  the 
transaction,  had  been  christened  Lee  Boo  by  the  humourous  party  of  the 
House,  and  was  only  selected  to  show  the  Commons  that  his  father  bad 
been  purchased. 

37* 


438  RISE    AND    FALL 

vas  the  touch- stone  of  the  parties  ;  the  attendance  of 
he  Unionists  in  the  House  was  compulsory,  that  of  its 
opponents  optional ;  and  on  counting  the  members,  sixty- 
six  (about  a  fifth  of  the  whole)  were  absent,  a  most  fa- 
vourable circumstance  for  the  Minister.  Every  mind  was 
at  its  stretch,  every  talent  was  in  its  vigour :  it  was  a 
momentous  trial ;  and  never  was  so  general  and  so  deep 
a  sensation  felt  in  any  country.  Numerous  British  no- 
blemen and  commoners  were  present  at  that  and  the  suc- 
ceeding debate,  and  they  expressed  opinions  of  Irish  elo- 
quence which  they  had  never  before  conceived,  nor  ever 
after  had  an  opportunity  of  appreciating.  Every  man  on 
that  night  seemed  to  be  inspired  by  the  subject.  Speeches 
more  replete  with  talent  and  energy,  on  both  sides,  never 
were  heard  in  the  Irish  Senate,  it  was  a  vital  subject. 
The  sublime,  the  eloquent,  the  figurative  orator,  the  plain, 
the  connected,  the  metaphysical  reasbner,  the  classical,  the 
learned,  and  the  solemn  declaimer,  in  a  succession  of 
speeches  so  full  of  energy  and  enthusiasm,  so  interesting 
in  their  nature,  so  important  in  their  consequence,  created 
a  variety  of  sensations  even  in  the  bosom  of  a  stranger, 
and  could  scarcely  fail  of  exciting  some  sympathy  with  a 
nation  which  was  doomed  to  close  for  ever  that  school  of 
eloquence  which  had  so  long  given  character  and  celebrity 
to  Irish  talent. 

The  debate  proceeded  with  increasing  heat  and  interest 
till  past  ten  o'clock  the  ensuing  morning  (16th.)  Many 
members  on  both  sides  signalized  themselves  to  an  extent 
that  never  could  have  been  expected.  The  result  of  the 
convivial  resolution  at  Lord  Castlereaglrs  house,  already 
mentioned,  was  actually  exemplified  and  clearly  discern- 
ible; an  unexampled  zeal,  an  uncongenial  energy,  an 
uncalled  for  rancour,  and  an  unusual  animation  broke  out 
from  several  supporters  of  Government,  to  an  extent 
which  none  but  those  who  had  known  the  system  Lord 
Castlereagh  had  skilfully  suggested  to  his  followers,  could 
in  any  way  account  for.  This  excess  of  ardour  gave  to 
this  debate  not  only  a  new  and  extraordinary  variety  of 
language,  but  an  acrimony  of  invective,  and  an  absence 
of  all  moderation,  never  before  so  immoderately  practised. 
This  violence  was  in  unison  with  the  pugnacious  project 
of  anticipating  the  Anti-Unionists  in  offensive  operation!, 


OP    THE    IRISH    NATION.  439 

some  remarkable  instances  of  that  project  were  actually 
put  into  practice,  and  are  not  unworthy  of  being  recorded 
in  the  Irish  chronicles. 

Mr.  Bushe,  the  late  Chief  Justice  of  Iieland,  was  as 
nearly  devoid  of  private  and  public  enemies  as  any  man. 
Endowed  with  superior  talents,  he  had  met  with  a  cor- 
responding succsss  in  an  ambitious  profession  and  in  a 
jealous  country.  His  eloquence  was  of  the  purest  kind  ; 
but  the  more  delicate  the  edge,  the  deeper  cuts  the  irony, 
and  his  rebukes  were  of  that  description ;  and  when  em- 
bellished by  his  ridicule,  coarse  minds  might  bear  them, 
but  the  more  sensitive  ones  could  not.  Mr.  Plunket's 
satire  was  of  a  different  nature,  his  weapon  cut  in  every 
direction,  and  when  once  unsheathed,  little  quarter  could 
be  expected.  His  satire  was;  at  times,  of  that  corroding 
yet  witty  nature,  that  no  patience  could  endure ;  yet,  on 
this  debate,  both  these  gentlemen  were  assailed  with  in- 
trepidity by  a  person  whose  talents  were  despised,  and 
the  price  of  whose  seduction  glared  in  an  appointment  to 
the  highest  office  at  the  Irish  bar — a  barrister  without 
professional  practice  or  experience,  and  who  was  not  con- 
sidered susceptible  of  black  letter.  As  a  statesman  he 
had  no  capacity,  and  as  an  orator  he  was  below  even 
mediocrity,  from  an  embarrassed  pronunciation  which 
seemed  to  render  any  attempt  at  elocution  a  most  hope- 
less experiment.  Such  was  Mr.  St.  George  Daly,  ap- 
pointed Prime  Serjeant  of  Ireland  in  the  place  of  Mr. 
Fitzgerald,  raised  over  the  heads  of  the  Attorney  and 
Solicitor  General,  and,  from  a  simple  briefless  advocate 
elevated  to  the  very  highest  rank  of  a  talented  and  learned 
profession.  Mr.  Daly,  however,  was  a  gentleman  of 
excellent  family,  and  common  sense,  and,  what  was  for- 
merly highly  esteemed  in  Ireland,  of  a  "  fighting  family." 
He  was  the  brother  of  Mr.  Dennis  Daly,  of  so  much 
talent,  and  of  so  much  reputation  amongst  the  patriots  of 
eighty-two.  He  was  proud  enough  for  his  pretensions, 
and  sufficiently  conceited  for  his  capacity :  and  a  private 
gentleman  he  would  have  remained,  had  not  Lord  Castle- 
reagh  and  the  Union  placed  him  in  public  situations 
where  he  had  himself  too  much  sense  not  to  feel  that  he 
certainly  was  over-elevated.  This  gentleman  is  particu- 
larly noticed,  as,  on  this  night,  he,  in  some  pcints,  over 


440  RISE    AND    FALL 

came  the  public  opinion  of  his  incapacity,  and  he  sur- 
prised the  House  by  one  of  the  most  clever  and  severe 
philippics  which  had  been  pronounced  during  the  discus- 
sions upon  the  Union,  more  remarkable  from  being 
directed  against  two  of  the  most  pure  and  formidable 
orators  in  the  country. 

The  contempt  with  which  Mr.  Daly  conceived  his  ca- 
pacity was  viewed  by  the  superior  members  of  his  pro. 
fession.  the  inaptitude  he  himself  felt  for  the  ostensible 
situation  he  was  placed  in,  the  cutting  sarcasms  liberally 
lavished  on  his  inexperience  and  infirmity,  in  lampoons 
and  pamphlets,  combined  to  excite  an  extraordinary 
exertion  to  extricate  himself  from  the  humiliating  taunts 
that  he  had  been  so  long  experiencing.  Mr.  Daly's  attack 
on  Mr.  Bushe  was  of  a  clever  description,  and  had  Mr. 
Bushe  had  one  vulnerable  point,  his  assailant  might  have 
prevailed.  He  next  attacked  Mr.  Plunket,  who  sat  im- 
mediately before  him ;  but  the  materials  of  his  vocabulary 
had  been  nearly  exhausted  ;  however,  he  was  making 
some  progress,  when  the  keen  visage  of  Mr.  Plunket  was 
seen  to  assume  a  curled  sneer,  which,  like  a  legion  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  was  prepared  for  any  enemy.  No 
speech  could  equal  his  glance  of  contempt  and  ridicule, 
Mr.  Daly  received  it  like  an  arrow,  it  pierced  him,  he 
faltered  like  a  wounded  man,  his  vocal  infirmity  became 
more  manifest,  and  after  an  embarrassed  pause,  he  yielded, 
changed  his  ground,  and  attacked  by  wholesale  every 
member  of  his  own  profession  who  had  opposed  a  Uniou, 
and  termed  them  a  disaffected  and  dangerous  faction. 
Here  again  he  received  a  reply  not  calculated  to  please 
him,  and  at  length  he  concluded  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able speeches,  because  one  of  the  most  unexpected,  that 
had  been  made  during  the  discussion.  Every  member 
who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  addressing  the  House,  new 
ones  who  had  never  spoken,  on  that  night  made  warm, 
and  several  of  them  eloquent,  orations. 

Mr.  Peter  Burrows,  a  veteran  advocate  for  the  rights 
of  Ireland,  wherever  and  whenever  he  had  the  power  of 
declaring  himself,  on  this  night  made  an  able  effort  to 
uphold  his  principles.  He  was  a  gentleman  of  the  bar 
who  had  many  friends,  and  justly ;  nothing  could  be  more 
Ungracious  than  the  manner,  nothing  much  better  than 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  441 

the  matter,  of  his  orations.  His  mind  had  ever  been  too 
independent  to  cringe,  and  his  opinions  too  intractable  for 
an  arbitrary  minister ;  on  this  night  he  formed  a  noble 
and  distinguished  contrast  to  those  of  his  own  profession, 
who  had  sold  themselves  and  the  representation  for  a  mess 
of  pottage. 

The  House  had  nearly  exhausted  itself  and  the  subject; 
when,  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  an  incident 
the  most  affecting  and  unexpected,  occurred,  and  which  is 
too  precious  a  relic  of  Irish  Parliamentary  chronicles,  not 
to  be  recorded. 

IV.  The  animating  presence  of  Mr.  Grattan  on  this 
first  night  of  the  debate  was  considered  of  the  utmost 
importance  to  the  patriots,  it  was  once  more  raising  the 
standard  of  liberty  in  Parliament.  He  had  achieved  the 
independence  of  his  country  in  1782,  and  was  the  champion 
best  calculated  at  this  crisis  to  defend  it,  a  union  of  spirit, 
of  talent,  and  of  honesty,  gave  him  an  influence  above  ah 
his  contemporaries.  He  had  been  ungratefully  defamed 
by  the  people  he  had  liberated,  and  taking  the  calumny 
to  heart,  his  spirit  had  sunk  within  him,  his  health  had 
declined,  and  he  had  most  unwisely  seceded  in  disgust 
from  Parliament,  at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  most 
required  to  defend  both  himself  and  his  country.  He 
seemed  fast  approaching  to  the  termination  of  all  earthly 
objects,  when  he  was  induced  once  more  to  shed  his  in- 
fluence over  the  political  crisis. 

At  that  time  Mr.  Tighe  returned  the  members  for  thh 
closf  borough  of  Wicklow,  and  a  vacancy  having  occurred, 
it  was  tendered  to  Mr.  Grattan,  who  would  willingly  have 
declined  it  but  for  the  importunities  of  his  friends. 

The  Lord  Lieutenant  and  Lord  Castlereagh,  justly 
appreciating  the  effect  his  presence  might  have  on  the 
first  debate,  had  withheld  the  wrii  of  election  till  the  last 
moment  the  law  allowed,  and  till  they  conceived  it  might 
be  too  late  to  return  Mr.  Grattan  in  time  for  the  discus- 
sion. It  was  not  until  the  day  of  the  meeting  of  Parliament 
that  the  writ  was  delivered  to  the  returning  officer.  By 
extraordinary  exertions,  and  perhaps  by  following  the 
example  of  government  in  overstraining  the  law,  the  elec- 
tion was  held  immediately  on  the  arrival  of  the  writ,  a 
sufficient  number  of  voters  were  collected  to  return  Mi, 


442  RISE    AND    FALL 

Grattan  before  midnight.  By  one  o'clock  the  return  waa 
on  its  road  to  Dublin;  it  arrived  by  five ;  a  party  of  Mr. 
Grattan's  friends  repaired  to  the  private  house  of  the  pro- 
per officer,  and  making  him  get  out  of  bed,  compelled 
him  to  present  the  writ  to  Parliament  before  seven  in  the 
morning,  when  the  House  was  in  warm  debate  on  the 
Union.  A  whisper  ran  through  every  party  that  Mr. 
Grattan  was  elected,  and  would  immediately  take  his 
seat.  The  Ministerialists  smiled  with  incredulous  deri- 
sion, and  the  opposition  thought  the  news  too  got*i  to 
be  true. 

Mr.  Egan  was  speaking  strongly  against  the  measure, 
when  Mr.  George  Ponsonby  and  Mr.  Arthur  Moore  (now 
Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas)  walked  out,  and  immediately 
returned,  leading,  or  rather  helping,  Mr.  Grattan,  in  a 
state  of  total  feebleness  and  debility.  The  effect  was 
electric.  Mr.  Grattan's  illness  and  deep  chagrin  had  re- 
duced a  form,  never  symmetrical,  and  a  visage  at  all  times 
thin,  nearly  to  the  appearance  of  a  spectre.  As  he  feebly 
tottered  into  the  House,  every  member  simultaneously 
rose  from  his  seat.  He  moved  slowly  to  the  table ;  his 
languid  countenance  seemed  to  revive  as  he  took  those 
oaths  that  restored  him  to  his  pre-eminent  station ;  the 
smile  of  inward  satisfaction  obviously  illuminated  his 
features,  and  reanimation  and  energy  seemed  to  kindle  by 
the  labour  of  his  mind.  The  House  was  silent,  Mr.  Egan 
did  not  resume  his  speech,  Mr.  Grattan,  almost  breathless, 
as  if  by  instinct,  attempted  to  rise,  but  was  unable  to 
stand,  he  paused  and  with  difficulty  requested  permission 
of  the  House  to  deliver  his  sentiments  without  moving 
from  his  seat.  This  was  acceded  to  by  acclamation,  and 
he  who  had  left  his  bed  of  sickness  to  record,  as  he  thought, 
his  last  words  in  the  Parliament  of  his  country,  kindled 
gradually  till  his  language  glowed  with  an  energy  and 
feeling  which  he  had  seldom  surpassed.  After  nearly  two 
hours  of  the  most  powerful  eloquence,  he  concluded  with 
m  undiminished  vigour,  miraculous  to  those  who  were 
unacquainted  with  his  intellect. 

Never  did  a  speech  make  a  more  affecting  impression, 
but  it  came  too  late.  Fate  had  decreed  the  fall  of  Ireland, 
and  her  patriot  came  only  to  witness  her  overthrow.  For 
two  hours  he  recapitulated  all  the  pledges  that  England 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  443 

had  made  and  had  broken,  he  went  through  the  great 
events  from  1780  to  1800,  proved  the  more  than  treachery 
which  had  been  practised  towards  the  Irish  people.  He 
had  concluded,  and  the  question  was  loudly  called  for, 
when  Lord  Castlereagh  was  perceived  earnestly  to  whisper 
to  Mr.  Cony,  they  for  an  instant  looked  round  the  House, 
whispered  again,  Mr.  Corry  nodded  assent,  and,  amidst 
the  cries  of  question,  he  began  a  speech,  which,  as  far  as 
it  regarded  Mr.  Grattan,  few  persons  in  the  House  could 
have  prevailed  upon  themselves  to  utter.  Lord  Castle- 
reagh was  not  clear  what  impression  Mr.  Grattan's  speech 
might  have  made  upon  a  few  hesitating  members ;  he  had, 
in  the  course  of  the  debate,  moved  the  question  of  adjourn- 
ment ;  he  did  not  like  to  meet  Sir  Laurence  Parsons  on 
his  motion,  and  Mr.  Cony  commenced  certainly  an  able, 
out,  towards  Mr.  Grattan  an  ungenerous  and  an  unfeeling 
personal  assault,  it  was  useless,  it  was  like  an  act  of  a 
cruel  disposition,  and  he  knew  it  could  not  be  replied  to. 
At  length  the  impatience  of  the  House  rendered  a  divi- 
sion necessary,  and  in  half  an  hour  the  fate  of  Ireland 
was  decided.     The  numbers  were — 

For  an  Adjournment,  Lord  Castlereagh  had       .     .     138 
For  the  Amendment  96 

Majority         42* 


*  One  of  the  most  unexpected  and  flagitious  acts  of  public  corruption 
was  that  of  Mr.  Arthur  Brown,  member  for  the  University  of  Dublin. 
He  was  by  birth  an  American,  of  most  gentlemanly  manners,  excellent 
character,  and  very  considerable  talents.  He  had  by  his  learning  become 
a  senior  fellow  of  the  University,  and  was  the  law  professor.  From 
his  entrance  into  Parliament  he  had  been  a  steady,  zealous,  and  able 
*upp'  rter  of  the  rights  of  Ireland,  he  had  never  deviated ;  he  would 
aroept  no  office ;  he  had  attached  himself  to  Mr.  Ponsonby,  and  was 
Mpposed  to  be  one  oi  the.  truest  and  most  unassailable  supporters  of  Ire 
land. 

In  the  session  of  1799  he  had  taken  a  most  unequivocal,  decisive, 
and  ardent  part  against  to*  Jausa,  and  had  spoken  against  it  as  a  crime, 
*nr*  as  the  ruin  of  the  country :  ne  was  believed  to  be  incorruptible.  On 
this  night  he  rose,  but  crest-fallen  and  abashed  at  his  own  tergiversation ; 
he  recanted  every  word  he  had  ever  itte red,  deserted  from  the  country, 
Bupported  the  Union,  accepted  a  bribe  him  the  Minister,  was  afterwardi 
placed  in  office,  but  shame  haunted  him,  hated  himself:  an  amiable  man 
fell  a  victim  to  corruption.  He  rankled,  and  pined,  and  died  of  a  wretch* 
id  muid  and  a  broken  constitution 


444  «t8E    AND   FALL 

This  decision,  undoubtedly,  gave  a  death  wound  to  the 
Irish  nation.  Many,  however,  still  fostered  the  hope  of 
success  in  the  opposition ;  and  Lord  Castlereagh  did  not 
one  moment  relax  his  efforts  to  bribe,  to  seduce,  and  to 
terrify  his  opponents. 

The  Anti-Unionists,  also,  lost  no  opportunity  of  im- 
proving their  minority;  and  the  next  division  proved  that 
they  had  not.  The  adjournment  was  to  the  5th  day  of 
February ;  the  Union  propositions,  as  passed  by  the 
British  Parliament,  were,  after  a  long  speech,  laid  before 
the  House  of  Commons  by  Lord  Castlereagh  :  on  that 
day  Mr  Bagwell,  of  Tipperary  County,  seceded  from 
Government,  the  present  Marquis  of  Ormond  had  also 
divided  from  it ;  and  the  minority  appeared  to  have  re- 
ceived numerous  acquisitions.  Mr.  Saurin,  Mr.  Peter 
Burrows,  and  other  eminent  gentlemen  of  the  bar,  now 
appeared  to  make  the  last  effort  to  rescue  their  country. 

V.  Lord  Castlereagh,  upheld  by  his  last  majority,  now 
kept  no  bounds  in  his  assertions  and  in  his  arrogance ; 
and  after  a  debate  of  the  entire  night,  at  eleven  the  en 
suing  morning  the  division  took  place.  It  appeared  that 
the  Anti-Unionists  had  gained  ground  since  the  former 
session,  and  that  there  existed  115  Members  of  the  Irish 
Parliament,  whom  neither  promotion,  nor  office,  nor  fear 
nor  reward,  nor  ambition,  could  procure  to  vote  against 
the  independence  of  their  country,  though  nations  fall 
that  opposition  will  remain  immortal. 

Lord  Castlereagh's  motion  was  artful  in  the  extreme 
he  did  not  move  expressly  for  any  adoption  of  the  pro- 
positions, but  that  they  should  be  printed  and  circulated, 
with  a  view  to  their  ultimate  adoption. 

This  was  opposed  as  a  virtual  acceptation  of  the  sub- 
ject ;  on  this  point  the  issue  was  joined,  and  the  Irish  nation 
was.  on  that  night,  laid  prostrate.     The  division  was — 

Number  of  Members 300 

For  Lord  Castlereagh's  Motion  ...  158 

Against  it.  . ,     4     .  .115 

Of  Members  present,  majority  .     .     -  43 

Absent  .  .  27 

By  this  division,  it  appears  that  the  Government  had 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  44ft 

ft  majority  of  the  House  of  only  eight,  by  their  utmost 
efforts,  27  were  absent,  of  whom  every  man  refused  to 
Vote  for  a  Union,  but  did  not  vote  at  all,  being  kept  away 
by  different  causes  ;  and  of  consequence  eight  above  a 
moiety  carried  the  Union  ;  and  of  the  158  who  voted  for 
it  in  1800,  28  were  notoriously  bribed  or  influenced  cor- 
ruptly. 

Although  this  was  ominous  to  the  ultimate  fate  of  the 
nation,  the  contest  still  proceeded  with  unremitting  ar- 
dour ;  numerous  debates  and  numerous  divisions  took 
place  before  the  final  catastrophe,  in  numbers,  Govern- 
ment made  no  progress,  and  never  could  or  did  obtain  a 
majority  of  fifty  on  the  principle  of  a  Union. 

The  details  of  the  subsequent  proceedings  are  not 
within  the  range  of  this  desultory  memoir.  The  speech 
of  Mr.  Foster,  the  Speaker,  against  the  measure  occupied 
four  hours  :  a  deference  to  his  opinion,  and  a  respect  for 
his  true  patriotism,  caused  a  dead  silence  throughout  the 
entire  of  his  oration,  on  any  other  occasion,  thct  oration 
would  have  been  overwhelming ;  but  the  question  was, 
in  fact,  decided  before  he  had,  in  the  committee,  any  op- 
portunity of  declaring  his  opinion  ;  and  his  speech  was 
little  more  than  recording  his  sentiments. 

Some  very  serious  facts  occurred  during  the  progress 
of  the  discussion  which  may  be  worth  reciting.  The 
House  was  surrounded  by  military,  under  pretence  of 
keeping  the  peace,  which  was  not  in  danger,  but,  in  fact, 
to  excite  terror  ;  Lord  Castlereagh  also  threatened  to  re- 
move the  Parliament  to  Cork,  if  its  proceedings  were  in- 
terrupted. But,  unfortunately,  the  Anti-Unionists  had  no 
efficient  organization,  no  decided  leader ;  scattered  and 
desponding,  they*  did  not  excite  sufficient  external  exer- 

•  The  fulsome  address  from  the  Catholic  clergy  am  Bishop  T<anigan 
tiom  Kilkenny  to  Marquis  Cornwallis,  in  favour  of  the  Union,  for- 
tunately rendered  the  addresses  perfectly  ridiculous.  One  of  his  excel 
tency's  eyes,  by  some  natural  defect,  appeared  considerably  diminished 
and,*  like  the  pendulum  of  a  clock,  was  generally  in  a  state  of  motion 
The  Right  Reverend  Bishop  and  clergy  having  never  before  seen  the 
Marquis,  unfortunately  commenced  their  address  with  the  most  mat 
a  propos  exordium  of  "  your  excellency  has  al  vays  kept  a  steady  eye 
on  the  interests  of  Ireland."  The  address  was  presented  at  Levee. 
His  excellency  however  was  graciously  pleased  not  to  return  any  answer 
to  that  part  of  their  compiiment.     Mr.  Curran,  on  seeing  the  address 

38 


446  RISE    AND    PALL 

tion  :  destiny  seemed  to  resign  the  nation  to  its  fate ;  then 
own  brethren  forsook  them.  The  Bishops  Troy,  Lanigan 
and  others,  deluded  by  the  Viceroy,  sold  their  country,  and 
basely  betrayed  their  flocks,  by  promoting  the  Union,  the 
great  body  of  Catholics  were  true  to  their  country,  but 
the  rebellion  had  terrified  them  from  every  overt  act  of 
opposition,  all  was  confusion,  nothing  could  be  effected 
against  Lord  Castlereagh,  who  had  one  million  and  a 
half  to  bribe  with,  under  pretence  of  compensation,  be- 
sides, the  secret-service  money  of  England  was  at  his 
command,  and  that  was  boundless.  Had  the  proposal 
been  made  two  years  later,  all  the  wealth  and  power  of 
England  could  not  have  effected  the  annexation. 

The  subject  is  now  ended,  posterity  will  appreciate  the 
mjuries  of  Ireland.  The  only  security  England  has  for 
the  permanence  of  the  Union,  is  a  radical  change  in  the 
nature  and  genius  of  the  people ;  or  a  total  change  of 
system  in  the  mode  of  governing.  How  blind  must  those 
Governments  be,  which  suppose  that  Ireland  ever  can  be 
retained  permanently  by  the  coercive  system  !  Eight 
millions  of  people,  whose  lives  cannot  be  precious  to  them, 
never  can  be  permanently  yoked  to  any  other  nation,  not 
much  more  physically  powerful,  and  not  near  so  warlike, 
save  by  a  full  participation  of  rights  and  industry  ;  with 
employment,  protection,  and  any  means  of  subsistence, 
the  Irish  might  be  the  easiest  managed  people  on  the  face 
of  Europe  ;  naturally  loyal,  naturally  tractable,  naturally 
adapted  to  labour,  it  is  a  total  ignorance  of  their  character 
abroad,  with  a  system  of  petty  tyranny  at  home,  that 
destroys  this  people,  governing  by  executions  has  the  very 
opposite  effect  from  that  intended,  death  is  too  common 
to  have  much  terrors  for  a  desperate  peasantry,  hang 
100,000  every  year,  it  would  make  no  sensible  diminution 
if  the  Irish  population,  and  certainly  would  add  nothing 
tc  the  tranquillity  of  the  country ;  on  the  contrary,  every 
execution  increases  the  number  of  the  dissatisfied,  who 
can  be  contented  with  the  execution  of  his  kindred  ?  The 
only  guardians  of  that  devoted  people,  the  only  persons 

said  the  only  match  for  it  lie  had  ever  read  was  the  mayor  of  Coventry's 
speech  to  Queen  Elizabeth  :  "  When  the  Spanish  Armada  attacked  youi 
Majesty,  ecod  they  got  the  wrong  sow  by  the  ear.''''  The  Queen  desired 
mem  to  go  home  and  she  would  send  an  answer. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  447 

who  could  direct  or  guide  them,  are  now,  by  the  Union, 
for  ever  taken  away  from  them ;  their  landlords  now  reside 
in  other  countries  ;  no  labourers  are  now  employed  on 
the  old  demesnes  that  supported  them,  What  are  they  to 
subsist  upon?  An  idle  population  can  never  cease  to  be 
a  disturbed  one  ;  and,  if  it  be  possible  to  convince  the  Eng- 
lish people  that  the  state  of  Ireland  must  soon  influence 
their  own  condition,  much  will  be  effected  ;  if  England 
should  be  convinced  that  Ireland  has  been  plundered  by 
a  British  Minister,  of  the  only  certain  means  of  ensuring 
her  tranquillity  (a  resident  Parliament,)  that  the  plunder 
has  been  without  any  beneficial  operation  to  England 
herself,  great  progress  will  be  made  toward  some  better 
system.  Half  the  time  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  is 
now  occupied  upon  a  subject  of  which  nothing  but  local 
knowledge  can  give  a  competent  idea ;  and  it  is  the  opi- 
nion of  the  wisest  and  most  dispassionate  people,  that  now 
reflect  upon  the  state  of  the  connection,  that  either  the 
Union  must  be  rendered  closer  and  more  operative  for  its 
professed  objects,  interests  must  be  more  amalgamated, 
and  the  nations  dovetailed  together,  or  the  Union  be  alto- 
gether relinquished,  the  dilemma  is  momentous,  but  th« 
alternative  is  inevitable. 

This  digression  arises  from  the  circumstances  which 
have  been  mentioned  just  preceding  it.  To  a  true-hearted 
Irishman,  it  must  be  a  subject  of  solicitude,  but  a  reflection 
on  1800,  never  can  arise  without  exciting  emotions  of 
disgust  and  feelings  of  indignation. 

After  a  long,  an  ardent,  but  an  ineffective  struggle,  the 
Anti-Unionists  gave  way  entirely ;  and  but  little  further 
resistance  was  offered  to  any  thing. 

During  the  progress  of  the  Union  bill  through  the  com- 
mittee, a  circumstance  took  place,  which,  with  reference 
to  analagous  subjects,  is  of  the  utmost  legal  and  constitu- 
tional importance. 

Mr.  Richard  Annesley  (afterwards  Lord  Annesley)  W2.s 
called  to  the  chair  of  the  committee,  on  the  motion  of  Lord 
Castlereagh,  and  sat  as  chairman  nearly  throughout  the 
entire  discussion. 

Mr.  R.  Annesley  and  General  Gardner,  had  been 
returned  members  for  the  city  of  Clogher  by  the  Bishop, 
whose  predecessors  had  exercised  that  rUronage  through 


148  RISE    AND    FALL 

the  votes  of  four  or  five  of  their  own  domestics,  or,  perhaps 
of  only  their  steward  or  chaplain,  and  in  their  own  hall. 
On  this  occasion,  however,  the  Bishop's  nomination  of  Mr. 
Annesley  and  General  Gardner  was  opposed  by  Mr. 
Charles  Ball  and  Colonel  King,  as  an  experiment,  at  the 
suggestion  of  Mr.  Plunket.  On  the  election,  these  can- 
didates tendered  a  number  of  the  resident  inhabitants  of 
the  district  as  legal  constituents  of  that  ancient  city,  ovei 
which  the  Bishops  had,  in  despotic  times,  assumed  a 
patronage,  not  only  contrary  to  the  inherent  rights  of 
franchise,  but  altogether  unconstitutional,  it  being  merely 
a  nomination  of  Members  of  the  Commons  by  a  spiritual 
Lord.  The  Bishop's  returning  officer  had,  of  course, 
rejected  all  lay  interference,  and  Mr.  Annesley  and 
General  Gardner  were  returned  by  five  or  six  domestics 
of  the  prelate. 

This  election,  however,  was  most  vigorously  contested 
by  Mr.  Ball  and  Colonel  King ;  they  canvassed  the  vicinity 
informed  the  landholders  of  their  inherent  rights,  and  of 
the  Bishop's  usurpation.  A  great  number  appeared,  and 
tendered  their  votes  for  the  new  candidates,  who,  in  their 
turn,  objected  to  every  voter  received  for  those  of  the 
Bishop ;  and,  thus  circumstanced,  the  return  came  back 
to  Parliament. 

The  Bishop's  nominees  took  their  seats,  as  Lvtful  mem- 
bers of  Parliament ;  and  as  such  Mr.  Annesley  was  named 
chairman  to  the  committee  of  the  whole  House,  which 
voted  all  the  details  and  articles  of  the  Union.  Mr.  Bali 
and  Colonel  King,  however,  petitioned  against  that  return. 
A  committee  was  appointed  to  decide  the  question:  every 
possible  delay  was  contrived  by  the  Government,  and 
every  influence  was  attempted,  even  over  the  Members  of 
the  committee,  nothing  was  too  shameful  for  the  arrogance 
of  the  Chancellor  (who  took  a  furious  part)  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  the  Secretary. 

VI.  After  a  month  of  arduous  and  minute  investigation, 
an  old  document  was  traced  to  the  Paper  Office  at  the 
Castle,  which  the  Viceroy  endeavoured  to  have  suppressed 
by  the  keeper  of  the  records.  On  its  production,  the 
usurpation  of  the  Bishops  was  proved  beyond  all  possi- 
bility of  argument,  and  Mr.  Annesley,  through  whose 
▼oice  ev  try  clause  of  the  Union  had  been  put  and  carried 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  449 

was  declared  by  the  House  a  usurper,  and  his  election, 
and  the  return  thereupon,  was  pronounced  null  and  void. 
By  this  decision,  the  whole  of  the  proceedings  of  the  com- 
mittee had  been  carried  on,  through  the  instrumentality 
and  functions  of  a  person  not  de  jure  a  member  of  Par- 
liament at  the  time  he  so  acted.  This  point,  if  it  had  been 
then  vigorously  pushed,  must  have  led  to  most  serious  and 
deep  constitutional  questions. 

It  was  the  lex  P arlianientaria  that,  on  an  election  for 
a  Member  of  Parliament,  all  votes  taken  before  a  return- 
ing officer  not  legally  qualified  as  such,  were  null  and 
void.* 

Mr.  Charles  Ball  was  excluded  from  voting  against  the 
Union  the  whole  time  of  Mr.  Annesley's  so  usurping  the 
duties  of  a  member,  and  voting  in  its  favour.  Whether 
his  acts  could  be  construed  to  be  legal  was  a  point 
rendered  useless,  by  the  certainty  of  the  Union  being 
effected. 

Mr.  Annesley  was  in  his  seat  in  the  House  when  the 
'•eport  of  the  committee  was  read :  the  etfect  was  consi- 
derable. Mr.  Annesley  and  General  Gardner  instantly 
rose  and  left  the  House,  and  Mr.  Charles  Ball  and  Colonel 
King  were  as  quickly  introduced,  dressed  in  the  Anti- 
Union  uniform,  and  took  their  seats  in  the  place  of  the 
discarded  members.  A  new  chairman  was  substituted 
for  Mr.  Annesley. 

Another  curious  instance  of  palpable  corruption  remains 
on  record.  Sir  William  Gladowe  Newcomen,  Bart., 
member  for  the  county  of  Longford,  in  the  course  of  the 
debate,  declared  he  supported  the  Union,  as  he  was  not 
instructed  to  the  contrary  by  his  constituents.  This 
avowal  surprised  many,  as  it  was  known  that  the  county 
was  nearly  unanimous  against  the  measure,  and  that  he 
was  weil  acquainted  with  the  fact.  However,  he  voted 
for  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  he  asserted  that  conviction 
alone  was  his  guide  ;  his  veracity  was  doubted,  and  in  a 
few  months  some  of  his  bribes  were  published.  His  wife 
was  also  created  a  peeress. 

*  It  was  contended  by  the  constitutional  lawyers,  that  the  votes  of  a 
committee  taken  by  a  chairman  who  was  not  a  meir  ber  of  the  House, 
the  journals  he  signed,  and  the  reports  he  brought  ip,  were  void,  and, 
ft  fortiori,  every  act  of  the  committee. 

38* 


150  USE    AND   FALL 

One  oi  his  bribes  lias  been  discovered,  registered  in  the 
Rolls  office,  a  document  which  it  was  never  supposed 
would  be  exposed,  but  which  would  have  been  grounds  foi 
impeachment  against  every  member  of  Government  who 
thus  contributed  his  aid  to  plunder  the  public  and  corrupt 
Parliament. 

The  following  is  a  copy,  from  the  Rolls  Office  of 
Ireland : 

By  the  Lord  Lieutenant  and  General  Governor  of 
Ireland, 

CORNWALLIS. 

rt  Whereas  Sir  William  Gladowe  Newcomen,  Bart., 
hath  by  his  memorial  laid  before  us,  represented  that,  on 
the  25th  day  of  June,  1785,  John,  late  Earl  of  Mayo, 
then  Lord  Viscount  Naas,  Receiver  General  of  Stamp 
Duties,  together  with  Sir  Thomas  Newcomen,  Bart.,  and 
Sir  Barry  Denny,  Bart.,  both  since  deceased,  as  sureties 
for  the  said  John,  Earl  of  Mayo,  executed  a  bond  to  his 
Majesty,  conditioning  to  pay  into  the  treasury  the  stamp 
duties  received  by  him  ;  that  the  said  Earl  of  Mayo  con- 
tinued in  the  said  office  of  Receiver  General  until  the 
30th  day  of  July.  1786,  when  he  resigned  the  same,  at 
which  time  it  is  stated  that  he  was  indebted  to  his  Majesty 
in  the  sum  of  about  five  thousand  pounds,  and  died  on  the 
7th  of  April,  1792 ;  that  the  said  sureties  are  dead,  and 
the  said  Sir  Thomas  Newcomen,  Bart.,  did  by  his  last 
will  appoint  the  memorialist  executor  of  his  estate ;  that 
the  memorialist  proposed  to  pay  into  his  Majesty's  Exche- 
quer the  sum  of  two  thousand  pounds,  as  a  composition 
for  any  money  that  might  be  recovered  thereon,  upon  the 
estate  being  released  from  any  further  charge  on  account 
of  the  said  debt  due  to  his  Majesty.  And  the  before- 
mentioned  Memorial  having  been  referred  to  his  Majesty's 
Attorney  General,  for  his  opinion  what  would  be  proper 
to  be  done  in  this  matter,  and  the  said  Attorney  General 
having  by  his  report  unto  us,  dated  the  20th  day  of  August, 
1800,  advised  that,  under  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 
the  sum  of  two  thousand  pounds  should  be  accepted  of 
the  memorialist  on  the  part  of  Government,"  &c.  &c. 

"J.  TOLER." 


OF   THE    IRISH    NATION.  451 

By  this  abstract  it  now  appears,  even  by  the  memorial 
of  Sir  William  Gladowe,  that  he  was  indebted  at  least 
five  thousand  pounds,  from  the  year  1786,  to  the  public 
treasury  and  Revenue  of  Ireland  ;  that,  with  the  interest 
thereon,  it  amounted  in  1800  to  ten  thousand  pounds; 
that  Sir  William  had  assets  in  his  hands,  as  executor,  to 
pay  that  debt;  and  that,  on  the  Union,  when  all  such  ar- 
rears must  have  been  paid  into  the  Treasury,  the  Attorney 
General,  under  a  reference  of  Lords  Corn wal lis  and 
Castlereagh,  was  induced  to  sanction  the  transaction  as 
reported  ;  " viz.  "  under  all  its  circumstances"  to  forego 
the  debt,  except  two  thousand  pounds.  Every  effort  was 
made  to  find  if  any  such  sum  as  two  thousand  pounds 
was  credited  to  the  public,  and  none  such  was  discovered, 
The  fact  is,  that  Lord  Naas  owed  ten  thousand  pounds, 
consequently  SirW  illiam  owed  twenty  thousand  ;  that  he 
never  bona  fide  pa«d  to  the  public  one  shilling,  which, 
with  a  peerage,  thj  patronage  of  his  county,  and  the 
pecuniary  pickings  also  received  by  himself,  altogether 
formed  a  tolerably  sivong  bribe,  even  for  a  more  qualmish 
conscience  than  that  of  Sir  William. 

But  all  the  individual  instances  of  the  corrupt  influence 
which  seduced  so  ma^y  members  of  the  Irish  Parliament 
to  betray  their  trusts,  a.id  transmit  their  names  to  posterity 
as  the  most  fatal  enemies  of  that  island  where  they  drew 
their  breath,  would  be  a  labour  of  too  great  an  extent  for 
a  work  of  this  description.  But  it  will  suffice  to  convince 
the  British  Empire,  that  the  Union  between  England  and 
Ireland  was  the  corrupt  work  of  the  very  minister  who 
was  afterwards  called  over,  with  his  Irish  flock  to  become 
the  shepherd  of  the  British  nation. 

VII.  The  few  following  authenticated  examples  of 
corrupt  seduction  by  Lords  Cornwallis  and  Castlereagh 
individually,  may  give  some  slight  idea  of  the  general 
system : — 

Mr.  Francis  Knox  and  Mr.  Crowe,  two  Irish  barristers, 
were  returned  to  Parliament  for  the  close  borough  of 
Philipstown,  under  the  patronage  of  Lord  Belvidere.  In 
the  session  of  1799  they  violently  opposed  the  Union.  Mr. 
Knox  said  ;  "  I  am  satisfied  that  in  point  of  commerce, 
England  has  nothing  to  give  to  this  country  :  but,  were 
it  otherwise,  I  would  not  condescend  to  argue  the  subject; 


152  RISE    AND    FALL 

for  I  would  not  surrender  the  liberties  of  my  country  fot 
the  riches  of  the  universe !  I  cannot  find  words  to  express 
the  horror  I  feel  at  a  proposition  so  extremely  degrading. 
It  is  insulting  to  entertain  it,  even  for  a  moment.  What ! 
shall  we  deliberate  whether  this  kingdom  shall  cease  to 
exist ;  whether  this  land  shall  be  struck  from  the  scak 
of  nations ;  whether  its  veiy  name  is  to  be  erased  from 
the  map  of  the  world  for  ever?  Shall  it,  [  say,  be  a 
question  whether  we  surrender  to  another  separate  country 
and  to  another  separate  legislature,  the  lives,  liberties, 
and  properties  of  five  millions  of  people,  who  delegated 
us  to  defend,  but  not  to  destroy  the  constitution  1  It  is 
a  monstrous  proposition,  and  should  be  considered,  merely 
in  order  to  mingle  our  disgust  and  execration  with  those 
of  the  peopie,  and  then  to  dash  it  from  us,  never  to  be 
resumed  ! "     Mr.  Crowe  held  similar  language. 

The  Earl  of  Belvidere  then  called  a  meeting  of  the 
county  of  Westmeath,  to  enter  into  resolutions  against  the 
Union ;  and  his  proposed  resolutions,  in  his  own  hand- 
writing, declaratory  of  his  resistance  to  that  measure,  are 
here  inserted.  Mr.  Crowe  termed  its  supporters  "  flagitious 
culprits,"  and  boldly  declaimed  against  the  unexampled 
profligacy  of  the  Viceroy  and  Ins  Irish  Secretary.  It  is 
fortunate'  for  history  that  irrefragable  proofs  exist  of  this 
statement,  and  that  Great  Britain  may  peruse  the  mode 
by  which  Ireland  has  been  united  lo  her.  Every  line  of 
such  documents  might  well  form  a  ground  of  prosecution 
or  impeachment,  for  high  crimes  and  misdemeanours, 
against  both  the  Viceroy  and  the  Secretary. 

The  Earl  of  Belvidere  and  his  two  friends  had  expressed 
themselves  too  strongly  against  the  Union,  and  were  of 
too  much  importance  to  be  left  untempted.  The  Marquis, 
therefore  undertook  to  manage  the  Peer,  whilst  Lord 
Castlereagh  engaged  to  seduce  the  Commoners.  Mr. 
Usher,  the  Earl's  chaplain,  wise  man,  and  adviser,  was 
also  enlisted  to  effect  the  seduction  of  his  patron  and  of 
his  accessories.     The  negociation  completely  succeeded. 

The  English  nation  will  scarcely  believe  the  fact,  that, 
within  a  few  months,  his  Lordship  with  Mr.  Knox  and 
Mr.  Crowe,  were  literally  purchased;  and,  in  four  months 
after  publishing  the  resolutions  against  the  Union,  new 
resolutions,  in  favour  of  the  measure,  were  circulated  by 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  453 

his  Lordship  among  his  tenantry.  As  soon  as  the  bribe 
was  fixed,  as  he  conceived,  the  whole  3f  his  Lordship's 
former  principles  were  recanted,  and  condemned  as  hasty, 
and  against  the  general  opinion  of  the  people. 

IiOrd  Cornwallis  had  now  gained  his  point,  and  turned 
round  on  the  apostates,  they  were  disgraced  traitors: 
they  were  nou  helpless,  they  durst  not  again  recant.  The 
terms  had  been  munificent,  nothing  required  by  Lord 
Belvidere  had  been  refused  by  the  Marquis ;  but  after 
he  had  made  their  defection  public  and  irrevocable,  he 
gave  his  Lordship  to  understand  that  there  was  a  miscon- 
ception as  to  the  terms,  which,  being  matters  of  detail, 
could  be  more  properly  arranged  by  the  Secretary ;  and 
thus  he  turned  them  over  to  the  mercy  of  Lord  Castle- 
reagh.  His  Lordship,  seeing  they  were  entrapped  beyond 
the  power  of  escaping,  soon  convinced  them  that  he  also 
Knew  how  to  despise  the  instruments  he  had  corrupted. 
Mr.  Usher,  the  chaplain,  was  to  be  remunerated  for 
soothing  the  conscience  of  Lord  Belvidere,  the  clergy  are 
•seldom  reluctant  when  good  bargains  are  going  forward  : 
but  a  general  dissatisfaction  now  arose  among  all  the 
parties.  Usher,  however,  was  contented,  he  got  a  cure 
of  souls  for  his  political  guilt,  and,  after  having  aided  in 
corruption,  went  to  preach  purity  to  his  parishioners ! 

VIII.  The  English  people  would  scarcely  credit  the 
most  accurate  historian,  did  not  the  annexed  letter  prove 
the  whole  transaction,  and  leave  them  to  ruminate  upon 
the  nefarious  system  to  which  they  were  themselves  sub 
ject,  under  the  same  Minister.  In  England,  an  impeach 
mcnt  would  have  been  the  result  of  this  disclosure ;  but, 
in  Ireland,  it  was  the  least  of  Lord  Castlereagh's  mal- 
practices. 

Mr.  Crowe's  letter,  shortly  after  Lord  Belvidere  was 
purchased  by  Lord  Cor?iwallis. 

October  4th,  1799. 

My  Dear  Lord, 

This  moment  yours  of  the  3d  inst.  has  been  delivered 

by  the  postman.     I  am  heartily  concerned  that  I  am 

obliged  to  differ  with  your  Lordship  (for  the  first  time 

dining  a  three  and  twenty  years'  friendship)  in  point  of 


454  RISE     \ND    PALL 

fact :  as  to  what  passed  between  you  and  Lord  Cornwallia 
it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  present  question,  which  is 
simply,  "  whether  the  agreement  made  by  Mr.  Knox  with 
Lord  Castlereagh  is  to  be  adhered  to  or  violated."  This 
agreement  was  two  months  subsequent  to  your  conversa- 
tion with  Lord  Cornwallis,  and  you  will  recollect  you  had 
two  interviews  with  the  Viceroy,  the  latter  of  which  was, 
by  no  means,  so  flattering  as  the  first,  and  was  very  fai 
from  holding  out  splendid  expectations,  but  all  prior  dis- 
cussions are  always  done  away  by  a  subsequent  agreement ; 
for  otherwise  it  would  be  absurd  ever  to  think  of  making 
one,  which  would  be  always  open  to  be  departed  from  bv 
any  of  the  parties,  on  a  suggestion  that  in  a  prior  con 
versation  this  thing  was  said  or  the  other  thing  was 
offered.  An  agreement  once  made,  nothing  remains  but 
to  carry  it  into  effect  according  to  its  terms  as  fast  as 
possible.  The  business  then  comes  to  this,  what  was  the 
agreement  made  by  Mr.  Knox  with  Lord  Castlereagh, 
respecting  the  only  point  that  has  induced  your  Lordship 
to  delay  matters,  all  the  rest  being  confessedly  understood, 
namely,  "  the  vacating  Mr.  Knox's  seat  and  mine,  in  ordei 
to  give  the  return  of  the  two  members  to  Government  in 
our  places." 

This  particular  Mr.  Knox  stated  distinctly  and  expli 
citly,  that  Lord  Castlereagh,  at  the  outset  of  the  negotia- 
tion, laid  it  down  as  a  ,ine  qua  non,  that  we  must  vacate 
our  seats  in  the  present  Parliament,  and  that  he  should 
have  the  nomination  of  the  two  new  members."  But  such 
a  distinction  as  your  Lordship  conceives  o"  vacating  for 
the  question  of  Union,  and  in  case  Government  should  be 
defeated  on  that  measure,  tha*  those  two  new  members 
should  vacate,  and  that  you  should  have  a  power  of  no- 
minating in  their  stead  for  the  remainder  of  the  Parliament, 
never  in  the  slightest  degree  was  made  by  Mr.  Kox,  nor 
even  by  your  Lordship ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  your  Lord- 
ship assented  to  that  part  as  well  as  to  every  other  part 
of  the  treaty  with  Lord  Castlereagh,  and  from  the  instant 
you  thus  gave  your  assent,  a  full,  complete,  and  perfect 
agreement  took  place.  Mr.  Usher  was  present  at  all  this, 
and  it  is  his  duty  to  come  forward  and  declare  the  fact. 

On  the  10th  of  July  this  negociation  commenced,  and 
from  that,  period  to  this,  I  have  been  kept  in  town  from 


Or   THE    IRISH    NATION,  455 

my  concerns  in  law,  in  constant  expectation  of  having  it 
concluded,  and  now,  nearly  at  the  end  of  three  months, 
.o  have  it  ail  upset  is  very  severe. 

As  to  the  engagement  that  your  Lordship  describes  and 
that  your  burgesses  signed,  it  is  a  direct  contradiction  to 
that  part  of  the  agreement  it  professes  to  be  conformable 
to,  and  is  so  much  trouble  for  nothing  but  what  appears 
extraordinary  to  me,  along  with  all  the  rest  of  this  extra- 
ordinary business  is,  that  your  Lordship  should  prepare 
or  get  this  engagement  signed  after  you  were  apprised, 
both  by  Mr.  Knox's  letters  and  mine  to  you  and  Mr. 
Usher,  that  any  riling  short  of  the  identical  paper  sent 
down  by  Mr.  Knox,  would  not  answer.  I  have  nothing 
more  to  add  than  to  request  your  Lordship  will  bring 
Mr.  Usher  up  with  you  directly. 

I  am,  my  dear  Lord, 

Your's  most  sincerely, 

ROB.  CROWE. 
To  the  Earl  of  Belvidere,  <J*c.,  $*c,  $*c. 

[The  Original  of  this  letter  is  in  the  Author's  possession.] 

RESOLUTIONS 
In  the  hand-writing  of  the  Earl  of  Behidere,  prepared 
by  him  for  the  Freeholders  of  the  County  of  West- 
meath,  against  a  Legislative  Union  in  1799.  His 
Lordship  afterwards  voted  for  and  supported  thai 
measure  warmly. 

Resolved,  That  the  free  and  independent  Legislature  of 
Ireland  having  been  unequivocally  established,  every 
measure  that  tends  to  encroach  on  it  calls  for  our  im- 
plicit disapprobation. 

The  depending  project  of  a  Union  with  Great  Britain 
Jie  appearance  of  being  merely  a  transfer  of  the  Parlia- 
ment is,  in  fact,  a  complete  extinction  of  it ;  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  Irishmen  of  every  description  to  come  forward, 
and  by  all  constitutional  means  to  resist  a  scheme  so  sub- 
versive of  the  real  interest,  prosperity  and  dignity  of  their 
country. 

That  we  entertain  too  high  an  opinion  of  the  integrity 
of  our  representatives,  to  suppose  them  capable  of  voting 


15ft  RISE    AND    PALL 

away  the  rights  of  the  people,  had  a  power  of  such  a  na 
ture  been  ever  invested  in  them. 
[The  Original  is  in  the  Author's  possession.] 

This  transaction  between  Lord  Cornwallis  and  Castle- 
reagh,  and  Lord  Belvidere  and  Messrs.  Knox  and  Crowe, 
ought  to  be  one  of  the  most  useful  lessons  to  the  British 
nation  ;  there  will  be  seen,  in  the  sad  fate  of  Ireland,  the 
means  by  which  their  own  liberties  may  be  destroyed. 

Before  the  third  reading  of  the  Bill,  when  it  was  about 
to  be  reported,  Mr.  Charles  Ball,  Member  for  Clogher, 
rose,  and,  without  speaking  one  word,  looked  round  im- 
pressively, every  eye  was  directed  to  him,  he  only  pointed 
his  hand  significantly  to  the  bar,  and  immediately  walked 
forth,  casting  a  parting  look  behind  him,  and  turning  his 
eyes  to  Heaven,  as  if  to  invoke  vengeance  on  the  enemies 
of  his  country.  His  example  was  contagious.  Those 
Anti-Unionists  who  were  in  the  House  immediately  fol- 
lowed his  example,  and  never  returned  into  that  Senate 
which  had  been  the  glory,  the  guardian,  and  the  protec- 
tion of  their  country.  There  was  but  one  scene  more, 
and  the  curtain  was  to  drop  for  ever.* 

*  One  of  those  singular  incidents  which,  though  trivial,  occasionally 
produce  a  great  sensation,  occurred  in  the  progress  of  the  Bill,  on  the 
debate  respecting  the  local  representation.  From  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject and  the  strong  feelings  of  every  party,  the  slightest  incident,  the 
wost  immaterial  word,  or  unimportant  action,  was  construed  into  an  in- 
w  cation  of  something  momentous.  Mr.  Charles  Ball ,  the  new  Member  for 
t  logher,  was  a  most  ardent,  impetuous,  and  even  furious  opponent  of  a 
Union,  on  any  terms  or  under  any  circumstances.  He  was  a  very  large, 
eager,  boisterous,  and  determined  man ;  he  uttered  whatever  he  thought, 
and  there  was  no  restraining  his  sentiments.  In  the  midst  of  the  crowd- 
ed coffee-room  he  declared  his  astonishment,  that  whilst  hundreds  of 
wretched  men  every  day  sacrificed  their  lives  in  resisting  those  who 
openly  attacked  their  liberty,  there  were  none  who  did  not  at  once  rid 
their  country  of  the  monsters  who  were  betraying  it.  "  It  could  be  easily 
done,"  said  he,  "  by  a  few  hand-grenades,  or  shells,  thrown  from  the 
gallery  when  your  ministerial  gentlemen  are  locked  up  for  a  division. 

The  extravagance  of  the  idea  excited  general  merriment;  but  there 
were  some  who  actually  conceived  the  practicability  of  the  scheme.  Mr 
Ball,  with  affected  gravity,  added,  that  he  had  heard  such  a  plan  was 
intended ;  and  this  only  increased  the  previous  merriment.  The  House 
presently  commenced  its  sitting,  and  Mr.  Secretary  Cooke  had  taken  the 
chair  of  the  Committee,  when  suddenly  a  voice  like  thunder  burst  from 
the  gallery,  which  was  crowded  to  excess;  "  Nov?'  (roared  the  Stentor), 
"  now  let  the  bloodiest  assassin  take  the  chair.' — let  the  bloodiest  assassin 
fcuce  the  c'rmr  f 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  457 

The  day  of  extinguishing  the  liberties  of  Ireland  had 
now  arrived,  and  the  sun  took  his  last  view  of  indepen 
dent  Ireland,  he  rose  no  more  over  a  proud  and  prosperous 
nation,  she  was  now  condemned,  by  the  British  Minister, 
to  renounce  her  rank  amongst  the  States  of  Europe,  she 
was  sentenced  to  cancel  her  constitution,  to  disband  her 
Commons,  and  disfranchise  her  nobility,  to  proclaim  her 
incapacity,  and  register  her  corruption  in  the  records  of 
the  empire.     On  this  fatal  event,  some,  whose  honesty  the 

Any  attempt  at  description  of  the  scene  would  be  unavailing,  the 
shells  and  hand-grenades  of  Mr.  Ball  presented  themselves  to  every 
man's  imagination.  All  was  terror  and  confusion ;  many  pressed  towards 
the  doors,  but  the  door-keepers  had  fled,  and  turned  the  keys  to  prevent 
the  escape  of  the  culprit.  A  few  hats  fell  by  accident  from  the  galle- 
ries, which  were  in  a  state  of  tumult.  These  appeared  like  bomb- 
shells to  the  terrified  Members;  pocket-pistols  and  swords  were  upon 
the  point  of  being  produced ;  every  man  seemed  to  expect  the  bloody 
assassins  to  rush  in  hundreds  from  the  galleries.  No  explosion,  how 
ever,  took  place ;  no  assassins  descended ;  and  a  scuffle  in  the  gallery 
>yas  succeeded  by  an  exclamation,  "  We  have  secured  him !  We  have 
*ecured  him'."  which  restored  some  confidence  to  the  senators.  The  ser- 
jeant-at-arms now  ascended,  sword  in  hand,  and  was  followed  by  many 
)f  the  Members,  whose  courage  had  been  quiescent  till  there  was  a 
«rtaifuy  ot  no  danger.  Mr.  Denis  Brown,  as  a  forlorn  hope,  was  the 
irst  to  icount  the  gallery.  After  a  valiant  resistance,  an  Herculean  gen- 
leman  was  forced  down  into  the  body  of  the  House,  by  a  hundred 
lands.  Art  soon  as  he  was  effectually  secured,  all  the  Members  were 
■nost  courageous ;  some  pommelled,  some  kicked  rum,  and  at  length  he 
was  thro-Wii  flat  upon  the  floor,  and  firmly  pinioned.  The  whole  power 
oi  Parliament,  however,  could  not  protect  them  from  his  eloquence ;  and 
jnost  powerfully  did  he  use  his  tongue.  The  gigantic  appearance  of  the 
wan  struck  every  body  with  awe,  and  none  but  the  lawyers  had  the  least 
conception  that  he  was  a  Mr.  Sinclair,  one  of  the  most  quiet  and  well- 
behaved  barristers  of  the  whole  profession.  He  was  a  respectable,  in- 
dependent, and  idle  member  of  the  Irish  Bar,  but  an  enthusiast  against  a 
Union.  He  had  dined  with  a  party  of  the  same  opinions  at  the  house 
of  a  friend  who  was  undoubtedly  a  madman,  but  whose  excellent  wine 
«ad  will  conversation  had  elevated  Mr.  Sinclair  so  very  far  above  all 
J  tad,  that  he  declared  L  would  himself,  that  night,  in  spite  of  all  the 
traitors,  make  a  speech  in  .  le  House,  and  give  them  his  full  opinion  of 
the  only  measure  that  should  be  taken  against  them.  He  accordingly 
repaired  to  the  gallery,  and,  on  seeing  the  Secretary  take  the  chair,  he 
could  no  longer  contain  himself,  and  attempted  to  leap  down  among  the 
Members ;  but  being  restrained  by  some  friends  who  were  with  him,  he 
determined  to  make  his  speech,  and  commenced  with  the  most  appalling 
expression  of  what  he  conceived  should  be  the  fate  of  the  Unionists. 
He  was  committed  to  Newgate  by  the  Hous?,  and  remained  there  tiJ| 
the  session  ended 

39 


458  RISE    AND    FALL 

tempter  could  not  destroy,  some,  whose  honour  he  durst 
not  assail,  and  many  who  could  not  control  the  useless 
language  of  indignation,  prudently  withdrew  from  a  scene 
where  they  would  have  witnessed  only  the  downfall  of 
their  country.  Every  precaution  was  taken  hy  Lord 
Clare  for  the  security,  at  least,  of  his  own  person.  The 
Houses  of  Parliament  were  closely  invested  by  the  mill 
tary  no  demonstration  of  popular  feeling  was  permitted, 
a  British  regiment,  near  the  entrance,  patrolled  through 
the  Ionic  colonades.  the  chaste  architecture  of  that  classic 
structure  seemed  as  a  monument  to  the  falling  Irish,  to 
remind  them  of  what  they  had  been,  and  to  tell  them  what 
they  were.  It  was  a  heart-rending  sight  to  those  who 
loved  their  country,  it  was  a  sting  to  those  who  sold  it, 
and  to  those  who  purchased  it,  a  victory,  but  to  none  has 
it  heen  a  triumph.  Thirty-three  years  of  miserable  ex- 
perience should  now  convince  the  British  people  that 
they  have  gained  neither  strength,  nor  affection,  nor 
tranquillity,  by  their  acquisition  ;  and  that  if  population 
be  the  "  wealth  of  nations."  Ireland  is  getting  by  far  too 
rich  to  be  governed  much  longer  as  a  pauper. 

The  British  people  knew  not  the  true  history  of  the 
Union,  that  the  brilliant  promises,  the  predictions  of 
rapid  prosperity,  and  "consolidating  resources,"*  were  but 
chimerical.  "Whilst  the  finest  principles  of  the  constitution 
were  sapped  to  effect  the  measure,  England,  by  the  sub- 

{'ugalion  of  her  sister  kingdom,  gained  only  an  accumu- 
ation  of  debt,  an  accession  of  venality  to  her  Parliament, 
an  embarrassment  in  her  councils,  and  a  prospective  dan- 
ger to  the  integrity  of  the  empire.  The  name  of  Union 
has  been  acquired,  but  the  attainment  of  the  substance 
has  been  removed  farther  than  ever. 

The  Commons  House  of  Parliament,  on  the  last  evening 
afforded  the  most  melancholy  example  of  a  fine  inde- 
pendent people,  betrayed,  divided,  sold,  and,  as  a  State, 
annihilated.  British  clerks  and  officers  were  smuggled 
into  her  Parliament  to  vote  away  the  constitution  of  a 
country  to  which  they  were  strangers,  and  in  which  they 
had  neither  interest  nor  connection.  They  were  employed 

•  "  Consolidating  the  strength  and  resources  of  the  Empire"  wai 
Lord  Castlereagh's  fundamental  argument  on  proposing  that  measure ; 
but  he  lived  long  enough  to  see  that  it  had  the  very  contrary  operation. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION.  45iJ 

to  cancel  the  royal  charter  of  the  Irish  nation,  guaranteed 
by  the  British  Government,  sanctioned  by  the  British 
legislature,  and  unequivocally  confirmed  by  the  words, 
the  signature,  and  the  great  seal  of  their  monarch. 

The  situation  of  the  Speaker,  on  that  night,  was  of  the 
most  distressing  nature ;  a  sincere  and  ardent  enemy  of 
the  measure,  he  headed  its  opponents ;  he  r(  sisted  it  with 
all  the  power  of  his  mind,  the  resources  of  his  experience, 
his  influence  and  his  eloquence. 

It  was,  however,  through  his  voice  that  it  was  to  be  pro- 
claimed and  consummated.  His  only  alternative  (resig- 
nation) would  have  been  unavailing,  and  could  have  added 
nothing  to  his  character.  His  expressive  countenance, 
bespoke  the  inquietude  of  his  feeling ;  solicitude  was  per- 
ceptible in  every  glance,  and  his  embarrassment  wai 
obvious  in  every  word  he  uttered. 

The  galleries  were  full,  but  the  change  was  lamentable, 
they  were  no  longer  crowded  with  those  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  witness  the  eloquence  and  to  animate  the 
debates  of  that  devoted  assembly.  A  monotonous  and 
melancholy  murmur  ran  through  the  benches,  scarcely  a 
word  was  exchanged  amongst  the  members,  nobody 
seemed  at  ease,  no  cheerfulness  was  apparent,  and  the 
ordinary  business,  for  a  short  time,  proceeded  in  the  usual 
manner. 

At  length  the  expected  moment  arrived,  the  order  of 
the  day  for  the  third  reading  of  the  Bill,  for  a  "  Legislative 
Union  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  was  moved 
by  Lord  Castlereagh,  unvaried,  tame,  coldblooded,  the 
words  seemed  frozen  as  they  issued  from  his  lips ;  and,  as 
if  a  simple  citizen  of  the  world,  he  seemed  to  have  no 
sensation  on  the  subject. 

At  that  moment  he  had  no  country,  no  god  but  his 
ambition ;  he  made  his  motion,  and  resumed  his  seat,  with 
vhe  utmost  composure  and  indifference. 

Confused  murmurs  again  ran  through  the  House,  it  was 
visibly  atfected,  every  character,  in  a  moment,  seemed  in- 
voluntarily rushing  to  its  index,  some  pale,  some  flushed, 
some  agitated ;  there  were  few  countenances  to  which  the 
heart  did  not  despatch  some  messenger.  Several  Mem- 
bers withdrew  before  the  question  could  be  repeated,  and 
an  awful  momentary  silence  succeeded  their  departure 


460  RISE    AND    FALl 

The  Speaker  rose  slowly  from  that  chai:  which  had  been 
the  proud  source  of  his  honours  and  of  his  high  character; 
for  a  moment  he  resumed  his  seat,  but  the  strength  of  his 
mind  sustained  him  in  his  duty,  though  his  struggle  was 
apparent.  With  that  dignity  which  never  failed  to  signalize 
his  official  actions,  he  held  up  the  Bill  for  a  moment  in 
silence ;  he  looked  steadily  around  him  on  the  last  agony 
of  the  expiring  Parliament.  He  at  length  repeated,  in  an 
emphatic  tone,  "  as  many  as  are  of  opinion  that  this  bill 
do  pass,  say  aye."  The  affirmative  was  languid  but  in- 
disputable, another  momentary  pause  ensued,  again  his 
*ips  seemed  to  decline  their  office :  at  length,  with  an  eye 
averted  from  the  object  which  he  hated,  he  proclaimed, 
with  a  subdued  voice,  "  the  ayes  have  it?  The  fatal 
sentence  was  now  pronounced,  for  an  instant  he  stood 
statue-like ;  then  indignantly,  and  with  disgust,  flung  the 
Bill  upon  the  table,  and  sunk  into  his  chair  with  an  ex- 
hausted spirit.  An  independent  country  was  thus  de* 
graded  into  a  province,  Ireland,  as  a  nation,  was  extim 

QUI  HIED. 


THE    IRISH    NATION. 


461 


ORIGINAL  RED  LIST, 

Or  the  Members  who  voted  against  the    Union  in   1799,  aia 
1800,  with  observations. 

Those  Names  with  a  *  affixed  to  tnem,  are  County  Members, 
tfaose  with  a  f,  City  Members ;  and  those  with  a  §,  Borough  Members; 
these  in  Italics  changed  sides,  and  got  either  Money  or  Offices 


1.*  Honorable  A.  Acheson 
2.*  William  C.  Alcock 
3.*  Mervyn  Archdall 
4,§  W.  H.  Armstrong.     . 
5.*  Sir  Richard  Butler 
6.*  John  Bagwell  . 
7  §  Peter  Burrowes 

5.*  John  Bagwell,  Jun. 

*.f  John  Ball    .     •     .    . 
t0.f  Charles  Ball 
ll.f  Sir  Jonah  Barrington  . 

12.§  Charles  Bushe .    . 

13.  f  John  C.  Beresford . 


14     Arthur  Brown 


15.§  William  Blakeney 
16.*  William  Burton 


17.*  H.  V.  Brooke. 
18.§  Blayney  Balfour 
19. §  David  Babbington . 
20.  |  Hon.  James  Butler 


ft.*  Col  J.  Maxwell  Barry 


OBSERVATION! 

Son  to  Lord  Gosford. 

County  Wexford. 

County  Fermanagh 

Refused  all  terms  from  Government 

Changed  sides.     See  Black  List. 

Changed  sides  twice.     See  Black  List 

Now  Judge  of  the  Insolvent  Court ;  a  stem 
dy  Anti-Unionist. 

Clianged  sides.     See  Black  List. 

Member  for  Drogheda — incorruptible 

Brother  to  the  preceding. 

King's  Counsel— Judge  of  the  Admiralty— 
refused  all  terms. 

Afterwards  Solicitor  General,  and  Chief  Jus- 
tice of  Ireland — incorruptible. 

Seceded  from  Mr.  Ponsonbyin  1799,  on  his 
declaration  of  independence.  That  seces« 
Bion  was  fatal  to  Ireland. 

Member  for  the  University,  changed  sides 
in  1800 ;  was  appointed  Prime  Serjeant 
by  Lord  Castlereagh,  through  Mr.  Cooke 
—of  all  others  the  most  open  and  palpa* 
ble  case.     See  Black  List. 

A  Pensioner,  but  opposed  Government. 

Sold  his  Borough,  Carlow,  to  a  Unionist 
(Lord  Tullamore,)  but  remained  staunch 
himself. 


Connected  with  Lord  Belmore. 

(Now  Marquis  of  Ormonde)  voted  in  1800 

against  a  Union,  but  with  Government 

on  Lord  Cony's  motion. 
(Now  Lord  Farnham)  nephew  to  the  Speaker 
39* 


RISE    AND   FALL 


22.§ 
23.* 


WUliam  Bagwell 
Viscount  Corry 


34.f  Robert  Crowe 

25.*  Lord  Clements 
26.*  Lord  Cole 


27.§  Hon.  Lowry  Cole 
28.*  R.  Shapland  Carew. 
29. f  Hon.  A.  Creigkton 

30.  f  Hon.  J.  Creighton    . 
31.*  Joseph  Edward  Cooper. 
32,f  James  Cane     .    . 
33.*  Lord  CauMeld  .     . 

34. f  Henry  Coddington. 
35.§  George  Crookshank 
36.*  Dennis  B.  Daly 

37.  t  Noah  Dalway. 
38,*  Richard  Dawson. 
39.*  Arthur  Dawson    . 

40.*  Francis  Dobbs  .    . 

41-f  John  Egan  .    .    • 


OBSERVATIONS. 

Changed  sides  twice,  concluded  as  a  Onion 
ist.     See  Black  List. 

(Now  Lord  Belmore)  dismissed  from  his  re 
giment  by  Lord  Cornwallis — a  zealous 
leader  of  the  Opposition. 

A  Barrister,  bribed    by  Lord  Castlereagh 
See  his  Letter  to  Lord  Belvidere. 

(Now  Lord  Leitrim ) 

(Now  Lord  Enniskillen)  unfortunately  dis- 
sented from  Mr.  Ponsonby's  Motion  for  a 
declaration  of  independence  in  1799, 
whereby  the  Union  was  revived  and  car- 
ried. 

A  General ;  brother  to  Lord  Cole 

Changed  sides,  and  became   a   Unionist 

See  Black  List. 
Changed  sides.    See  Black  List 

Changed  sides.     See  Black  List. 
(Now  Earl  Charlemont)  son  to  Earl  Charle- 
mont,  a  principal  Leader  of  the  Opposition 

A  son  of  the  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas 
Brother-in-law  to  Mr.  Ponsonby;  a  most 
active  Anti-Unionist 


42. 
43-t 

44.* 
45.* 


R.  L.  Edgeworth. 
George  Evans. 
Sir  John  Freke,  Bart, 
Frederick  Falkiner    . 


Formerly  a  Banker,  father  to  the  late  Under- 
Secretary. 

Famous  for  his  Doctrine  on  the  Millennium 
an  enthusiastic  Anti-Unionist 

King's  Council,  Chairman  of  Kilmainham  • 
offered  a  Judge's  seat,  but  could  not  be 
purchased,  though  far  from  rich. 


(Now  Lord  Carberry.) 

Though  a  distressed  person,  could  not  be 
purchased. 

I6.§  Rt.  Hon. J  Fitzgerald, Prime  Sergeant  ot  Ireland;  could  not  be 
bought,  and  was  dismissed  from  his  high 
office  by  Lord  Cornwallis ;  father  to  Mr. 
Vesey  Fitzgerald. 

One  of  the  three  who  inconsiderately  oppo- 
)     sed  Mr.  Ponsonby,  and  thereby  carriea 
the  Union. 

Speaker;  the  chief  of  the  Opposition  through- 
out the  whole  contest 


47  *  William  C.  Fortescue, 
(Poisoned  by  accident. 

•8.*  Rt  Hon.  John  Foster 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION. 


463 


OBSERVATIONi 


49.*  Hon.  Thomas  Foster 
50.*  Sir  T.Fetherston,Bart 
51  *  Arthur  French 


Changed  sides.     See  Black  List. 

Unfortunately  coincided  with  Mr.  Fortescue 
in  1799,  against  Mr.  Ponsonby. 
52.§  Chichester  Fortescue  .  King  at  Arms;  brought  over  in  1800,  by 
Lord  Castlereagh ;  voted  both  sides ;  end- 
ed a  Unionist. 

Bought  by  Lord  Castlereagh  in  1800. 

A  distressed  man,  but  could  not  be  purcha* 
sed ;  father-in-law  to  Secretary  Cooke 


53  §  William  Gore 
54.  §  Hamilton  Georges 


55.§  Rt.  Hon.  H.  Grattan. 

56.  §  Thomas  Goold  .    .    . 

57.  f  Hans  Hamilton      .    . 

58.  f  Edward  Hardman 
59. §  Francis  Hardy 

60.  §  Sir  Joseph  Hoare. 
63.*  William  Hoare  Hume, 
1S2.§  Edward  Hoare 


63. §  Bartholomew  Hoare  , 

64. §  Alexander  Hamilton 

65. §  Hon.  A.  C.  Hamilton. 

66.§  Sir  F.  Hopkin3,  Bart. 

67.  f  H.  Irwin. 
68.*  Gilbert  King 
69.f  Charles  King. 
70.*  Hon.  Robert  King. 
71.*  Lord  Kingsborough 

72.  Hon.  George  Knox 

73.  f  Francis  Knox 

74.*  Rt  Hon.  Henry  King 
75-t  Major  King  .    . 

76.  £  Gustavus  Lambert 
77.*  David  Latouche,  jun 
78.  §  Robert  Latouche    .    . 
79. §  John  Latouche,  sen. 
80. §  John  Latouche,  junr. 
81.*  Charles  Powell  Leslie 
82.*  Edward  Lee 

83.f  Sir  Thomas  Lighlon,  Bt 
84.*  Lord  Maxwell  .  .  . 
85.* Alexander  Montgomery 


Now  Serjeant,  brought  into  Parliament  by 
the  Anti-Unionists. 

Member  for  Dublin  County. 

City  of  Drogheda ;  the  Speaker's  friend. 

Author  of  the  Life  of  Charlemont ;  brother- 
in-law  to  the  Bishop  of  Down 

Wicklow  County. 

Though  very  old,  and  stone  blind,  attended 

all  the  debates,  and  sat  up  all  the  nights 

of  debate. 
King's  Counsel. 
King's  Counsel ;  son  to  the  Baron. 

Prevailed  on  to  take  money  to  vacate,  in 
1800,  and  let  in  a  Unionist. 


(Now  Earl  Kingston.) 
Brother  to  Lord  Northland ;  lukewarm. 
Vacated  his  seat  for  Lord  Castlereagh     Se# 
Mr.  Crowe's  Letter. 

He  opened  the  Bishop  of  Clogher*§  Bo- 
rough in  1800 

Brother  to  Countess  Talbot. 

A  Banker 
Ditto. 
Ditto. 
Ditto. 

Member  for  the  County  of  Waterfori 

zealous. 
A  Banker 
Died  Lord  Famham 


164 


RISE    AND    FALL 


OBSERVATIONS. 


66. §  Sir  J.  M'Cartney,  Bart.  Much  distressed,  but  could  not  be  bribed 
nephew,  by  affinity  to  the  Speaker. 
WilliamThomasMansel, Actually  purchased  by  Lord  Castlereagh. 


87. 
88. 

89 
90. 

91. 
92. 
93. 
94. 


§  Stephen  Moore 


John  Moore. 
Arthur  Moore  . 

Lord  Math^w 
Thomas  Mahon. 
John  Metge 
Ric/iard  Neville 


97. 

98. 


99. 

100. 
101 
102. 
103. 

104 


105.' 

I06.« 
107.' 
108. 

109. 
IlO.j 
111 

112 

113 

114. 

15. 


.  Changed  sides  on   Lord  Cony's  Motion 
See  Debates. 

Now  Judge  of    the  Common   Tleas;    a 

staunch  Anti-Unionist. 
(Now  Earl  Llandaff)  Tipperary  County. 

Brother  to  the  Baron  of  the  Exchequer. 
Had  been  a  dismissed   treasury    officer; 
sold  his  vote  to  be  reinstated  ;  changed 
sides.     See  Black  List. 
The  Author  of  various  Works  on  Ireland; 

one  of  the  steadiest  Anti-Unionists. 
SI  igo  County. 
Clare  County. 

A  most  ardent  Anti-Unionist;  dismissed 
from  his  regiment  of  Mayo  militia 
James  Moore  0'Donnel,Killed  by  Mr.  Bingham  in  a  duel. 
Hon.  W.  O'Callaghan,  Brother  to  Lord  Lismore. 
Henry  Osborn  .     .        Could  not  be  bribed;  his  brother  was. 
Right  Hon.  Geo.  Ogle,  Wexford  County. 

Joseph  Preston  An  eccentric  character  could  not  be  pur- 

chased. 
John  Preston  Of  Bellintor,  was  purchased  by  a  title 

(Lord  Tara,)  and  his  brother,  a  Parson, 
got  a  living  of  <£700  a- year. 
Rt.  Hon.  Sir  J  Parnell,ChanceIlor  of  the  Exchequer,  dismissed  by 
Lord  Castlereagh ;  incorruptible. 


95.§  Thomas  Newenham 

* 


Charles  O'Hara 
Sir  Edward  O'Brien 
Col.  Hugh  O'Donnel 


Henry  Parnell.* 
W.  C.  Plunkei      . 
Right  Hon.  W.  B.  Pon- 

sonby     .         .     . 
J.  B.  P^nsonby     . 
Major  W.  Ponsonby  . 


Now  Lord  Plunket.     See  his  able  speech. 


Afterwards  Lord  Ponsonby. 
Afterwards  Lord  Ponsonby. 
A  General,  killed  at  Waterloo. 
Rt.  Hon.  G.  Ponsonby,  Afterwards  Lord  Chancellor ;  died  of  apo- 
plexy. 
Sir  Laurence  Parsons,  King's  County ;  now  Earl  of  Rosse ;  made 

a  remarkably  fine  speech. 
Richard  Power      .     .  Nephew  to  the  Baron  of  the  Exchequer. 
Abal  Ram    .     .  .   Changed  sides. 

Gustavus  Rochfort       County  Westmeath  ;  seduced  by  Govern- 
ment, and  changed  sides  in  1800      See 
Black  List. 
•  JSir  John  Parnell  was  one  of  the  ablest  supporters  of  Government  of 
his  dav     His  son  has  taken  assiduously  a  more  extensive  and  deeper 
field  of  business  in  finance,  but  in  any  other  point,  public  or  private,  has 
xtc  advantage  over  his  father 


OP   THE    IRISH    NATION. 


m 


OBSERVATIONS 


llbN 
11/ 

118.§ 

119. 

120.§ 

!21.§ 

122.* 

123.6 

124. § 

125.* 

126.* 

127.* 

128.5 

«29.* 

i30.§ 

i.'l.§ 

U2.§ 

1J3.§ 


34/ 
!35.* 

136.§ 
137.§ 

128.§ 
139.$ 
140.§ 
I41.§ 
142.* 


Nephew  to  the  Speaker. 


Changed  sides.     See  Black  List 


See  Black  Liat 
See  Ditto. 
See  Ditto 


'ohn  S.  Rochfort 

Sir  Wm.  Richardson 

John  Reily  . 

William  E.  Reily 

Charles  Ruxton. 

William  P.  Ruxton. 

Clotworthy  Rowley 

William  Kovjley  . 

J.  Rowley   . 

Fgrancis  Saunderson. 

William  Smyth 

James  Stewart. 

Hon.  W.  J.  Skeffington. 

Francis  Savage. 

Francis  Synge. 

Henry  Stewart. 

Sir  R.  St.  George,  Bart. 

Hon.  Benj.  Stratford.  Now  Lord  Aldborough ;  gained  by  Lotf 

Castlereagh;  changed  sides.    See  Black 

List 


Changed  sides. 
Changed  sides. 
Clianged  sides 

Westmeath 


Nathaniel  Sneyil. 
Thomas  Stannus 

Robert  Shaw    .    . 
Rt.  Hon.  Wm.  Saurin, 

William  Tighe. 
Henry  Tighe. 
John  Taylor. 
Thomas  Townshend. 
Hon.  Richard  Trench. 


143.* 
144.6 
145.§ 
146.* 
I47.§ 
148  t 


149 
IfiC 


Hon.  R.  Taylor. 
Charles  Vereker 
Owen  Wynne 
John  Waller. 
E.  D.Wilson. 
Tliomas  Whaley 


Nicholas  We6tby. 
John  Wolfe      . 


Changed  sides,  Lord  Portarlington's  Mem- 
ber.   See  Black  List 

A  Banker. 

Afterwards  Attorney  General;  a  steadj 
but  calm  Anti-Unionist 


Voted  against  the  Union  in  1799;  was 
gained  by  Lord  Castlereagh,  whose  rela- 
tive he  married,  and  voted  for  it  in  1800 
was  created  an  Earl,  and  made  an  Am. 
bassador  to  Holland ;  one  of  the  Vienna 
Carvers ;  and  a  Dutch  Marquess. 

(Now  Lord  Gort)  City  Limerick 


First  voted  against  the  Union ;  purchased 
by  Lord  Castlereagh;  he  was  Lord 
Clare's  brother-in-law.     See  Black  List 

Member  for  the  County  Wicklow;  Colty 
nel  of  the  Kildare  Militia,  refused  to 
vote  for  Government,  and  was  cashier- 
ed ;  could  not  be  purchased. 


466  RISE    AND   PALL 

By  the  Red  and  Black  Lists  (published  at  the  tune,  the  originals  belt g 
now  in  the  Author's  possession)  it  is  evident,  beyond  all  contradiction, 
that  of  those  who  had,  in  1799,  successfully  opposed  the  Union,  or  had 
declared  against  it,  Lord  Castlereagh,  palpably  purchased  twenty-Jive 
before  the  second  discussion  in  1 800,  which  made  a  difference  of  fifty 
votes  in  favour  of  government ;  and  it  is  therefore  equally  evident,  that, 
by  the  public  and  actual  bribery  of  those  twenty-five  members,  and  not 
by  any  change  of  opinion  in  the  country,  or  any  fair  or  honest  majority. 
Mr.  Pitt  and  his  instruments  carried  the  Union  in  the  Commons  House  of 
Parliament ;  and  it  is  proper  the  English  nation  should  know  accurately 
how  they  have  acquired  the  incumbrance  of  Ireland  in  its  present  form, 
and  what  little  importance  was  set  on  every  principle  of  the  British  Con- 
stitution, in  the  mind  of  the  same  Minister  whom  they  immediately  after- 
wards entrusted  with  their  own  liberties,  their  money,  and  their  national 
reputation — every  one  of  which  was  more  or  less  .sacrificed,  or  squandered, 
during  his  administration  in  England,  and  his  negociations  at  Vienna. 

The  observations  annexed  to  the  names  in  these  Lists  were,  at  the 
time,  either  in  actual  proof,  or  sufficiently  notorious  to  have  been  printed 
in  various  documents  at  that  epoch.  As  to  the  House  of  Lords,  the  ser- 
vile— almost  miraculous — submission  with  which  they  surrendered  their 
hereditary  prerogatives,  honours,  rights,  and  dignities,  into  the  hands  of 
the  Lords  Clare  and  Castlereagh,  is  a  subject  unprecedented.  But  this 
oeing  announced  for  discussion  by  the  Imperial  Parliament,  in  the  ensu- 
ing session,  through  the  interference  of  Lord  Rossmore,  &c.  &c.,  no  list 
at  the  Lords  is  here  given,  in  order  not  to  anticipate  that  parliamentary 
stricture,  which  will  be,  no  doubt,  more  potent  and  elucidating  than  any 
which  could  with  propriety  be  made  in  any  other  place  than  in  that  au- 
gust assembly.    As  the  capitulation  was  disgusting,  the  discussion  mu* 


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THE    IRISH    NATION. 


467 


ORIGINAL  BLACK  LIST. 


1.  &  Aldridge  .     ■ 
1.  Henry  Alexander   . 

I.  Richard  Archdall  . 
4.  William  Bailey      . 

i.  Rt.  Hon.  J.  Beresford 

I.  J.  Beresford,  jun 

7.  Marcus  Beresford   . 

8.  J.  Bingham  *     . 

•.  Joseph  H.  Blake  . 
10.  Sir  J.  G.  Blackwood 
tl    Sir  John  Blaquiere, 

li.  Anthony  Botet 

It.  Colonel  Burton 

14.  Sir  Richard  Butler, 

16.  Lord  Boyle 

16.  Rt  Hon.  D.  Brown, 

17.  Stewart  Bruce 

18.  George  Burdet 

19.  George  Bunbury 


OBSERVATIONS. 

An  English  Clerk  in  the  Secretary's  office;  r*c 

connection  with  Ireland. 
Chairman  of  Ways  and  Means ;  cousin  of  Lord 

Caledon;  his  brother  made  a  Bishop ;  himself 

Colonial  Secretary  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
Commissioner  of  the  Board  of  Works. 
Commissioner  of  Ditto. 
,First  Commissioner  of  Revenue ;  brother-in-law 

to  Lord  Clare. 
Then  Purse-bearer  to  Lord  Clare,  afterwards  a 

Parson,  and  now  Lord  Decies. 
A  Colonel  in  the  Army,  son  to  the  Bishop,  Lord 

Clare's  nephew. 
Created  a  Peer;  got  c£8000  for  two  seats;  and 

«£  15,000  compensation  for  Tuam.    This  gen- 
tleman first  offered  himself  for  sale  to  the 

Anti-Unionists ;  Lord  Clanmorris. 
Created  a  Peer — Lord  Wallscourt,  &c 
,  Created  a  Peer — Lord  Dufferin. 
Numerous  Offices  and  Pensions,  and  created  a 
•  Peer — Lord  De  Blaquiere. 
Appointed  Commissioner  of  the  Barrack  Board, 

<£500  a-year. 
Brother  to  Lord  Conyngham ;  a  Colonel  in  the 

Army. 
Purchased  and  changed  sides;  voted  against 

the  Union  in  1 799 ,  and  for  it  in  1 800.    Cash. 
Son  to  Lord  Shannon;  they  got  an  immenst 

sum  of  money  for  their  seats  and  Boroughs 

at  (£15,000  each  Borough. 
Brother  to  Lord  Sligo. 
Gentleman  Usher  at  Dublin  Castle;  now  a 

Baronet. 
Commissioner  of  a  Public  Board,  c£500  pei 

annum. 
Ditto. 


*  The  Author  of  this  work  was  deputed  to  learn  from  Mr.  Bingham 
what  his  expectations  from  Government  for  his  seats  were ;  he  proposed 
to  take  from  the  Opposition  <£8000  for  his  two  seats  for  Tuam,  and 
oppose  the  Union.  Government  afterwards  added  a  Peerage  and 
£  15,000  for  the  Borough. 


468 


RISE    AND    FALL 


20    Arthur  Brmtm 


21.  Bagwell,  sen 


22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 


27. 

28. 
29. 

30. 

31. 

32. 

33. 
34. 


Bagwell,  jun. 

William  Bagwell 
Lord  Castlereagh 
George  Cavendish 

Sir  H.  Cavendish 

Sir  R.  Chinnery     . 
James  Cane  . 
Thomas  Casey 

Colonel  C.  Cope 

General  Cradock 

James  Crosby 

Edward  Cooke 
Charles  H.  Coote 


35  Rt  Hon.  I.  Corry 


36 
37 
38 
39. 
40 

42 

42 


43 
44 


Sir  J.  Cotter .  .  . 
Richard  Cotter  .  . 
Hon.  H.  Creighton  ) 
Hon.  J.  Creighton  j 
W.  A.  Crosbie  .     . 

James  Cufie  . 

General  Dunne 


William  Elliot 
General  Eustace 


OBSERVATIONS 

Zf tanged  sides  and  principles,  and  was  appoint- 
ed Serjeant;  in  1799  opposed  the  Union, and 
supported  it  in  1 800  ;  he  was  Senior  Fellow 
of  Dublin  University;  lost  his  seat  the  ensu- 
ing election,  and  died. 

Changed  twice ;  got  half  the  patronage  of  Tijv 
perary ;  his  son  a  Dean,  &c.  &c. 

Ditto,  got  the  Tipperary  Regiment,  &c 

His  brother. 

The  Irish  Minister. 

Secretary  to  the  Treasury  dunng  pleasure ;  son 
to  Sir  Henry. 

Receiver  General  during  pleasure ;  deeply  in- 
debted to  the  Crown. 

Placed  in  office  after  the  Union 

Renegaded,  and  got  a  pension. 

A  Commission  of  Bankrupts  under  Lord  Clare ; 
made  a  City  Magistrate. 

Renegaded ;  got  a  Regiment,  and  the  patronage 
of  his  county 

Returned  by  Government;  much  military  rank; 
now  Lord  Howden 

A  regiment  and  the  patronage  of  Kerry,  jointly ; 
seconded  the  Address. 

Under  Secretary  at  the  Castle. 

Obtained  a  Regiment  (which  was  taken  from 
Colonel  Wharburton)  patronage  of  Queen'a 
County,  and  a  Peerage,  (Lord  Castlecoote) 
and  d£7,500  in  cash  for  his  interest  at  the 
Borough  of  Maryborough,  in  which,  in  fact,  it 
was  proved  before  the  Commissioners  that 
the  Author  of  this  work  had  more  interest 
than  his  Lordship. 

Appointed  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  on  dis- 
missal of  Sir  John  Parnell. 

Privately  brought  over  by  cash. 

Renegaded  (see  Red  List)  privately  purchased. 

Comptroller  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant's  House • 
hold. 

Natural  son  to  Mr.  Cuffe  of  the  Board  of  Works, 
his  father  created  Lord  Tyrawly. 

Returned  for  Maryborough  by  the  united  influ- 
ence of  Lord  Cas*lecoote  and  Government,  to 
keep  out  Mr.  Ba-»ington ;  gained  the  election 
by  only  one. 

Secretary  at  the  Castle 

A  Regiment. 


OF    THE    IRISH    NATION. 


469 


OBSERVATIONS. 


a 

46 

47. 
48. 


lord  C  Fitzgerald,  Duke  of  Leinster's  brother;  a  lension  and 

Peerage ;  a  Sea  Officer  of  no  repute. . 
Kt.  Hon.  W.  Fitzgerald. 


SirC 
A 


Fortescue 


Fergusson 


49.  Luke  Fox    . 

50.  William  Fortescue 


51.  J.  Galbraith 

52.  Henry  D.  Grady* 
53    Richard  Hare 

54.  William  Hare   .     . 

55.  Col.  B.  Henniker  . 

56.  Peter  Holmes 

57.  George  Hatton  .     , 

58.  Hon.  J.  Hutchinson 

59.  Hugh  Howard 

60.  Wm.  Handcock 

(Athlone) 


Renegaded  (see  Red  List)  Officer,  King  at  Arms. 

Got  a  place  at  the  Barrack  Board,  <£500  a  year, 
and  a  Baronetcy. 

Appointed  Judge  of  Common  Pleas;  nephew 
by  marriage  to  Lord  Ely. 

Got  a  secret  Pension,  out  of  a  fund  (^£3,000  a 
year)  entrusted  by  Parliament  to  the  Irish 
Government,  solely  to  reward  Mr.  Reynolds. 
Cope,  &c.  &c,  and  those  who  informed 
against  rebels. 

Lord  Abercorn's  Attorney ;  got  a  Baronetage 

First  Counsel  to  the  Commissioners. 

Put  two  members  into  Parliament,  and  was 
created  Lord  Ennismore  for  their  votes 

His  son. 

A  regiment,  and  paid  ^£3,500  for  his  beat  by 
the  Commissioners  of  Compensation 

A  Commissioner  of  Stamps. 

Appointed  Commissioner  of  Stamps 
.  A  General — Lord  Hutchinson. 

Lord  Wicklow's  brother,  made  Postmaster  Gen- 
eral 

An  extraordinary  instance ;  he  made  and  sang 
songs  against  the  Union  in  1799,  at  a  public 
dinner  of  the  Opposition,  and  made  and  sang 
songs  for  it  in  1 800 ;  he  got  a  Peerage. 

Appointed  Storekeeper  at  the  Castle  Ordnance. 

A  Regiment. 

Master  of  Horse  to  the  Lord  Lieutenant 
.  Promotion  in  the  Army,  and  his  brother  conse- 
crated Bishop  of  Lismore. 


II.  John  Hobson     . 

62.  Col.  G.  Jackson 

63.  Denham  Jephson 

64.  Hon.  G.  Jocelyn 

65.  William  Jones. 

66.  Theophilus  Jones     Collector  of  Dublin 

67.  Major  Gen.  Jackson,  A  Regiment. 

68.  William  Johnson      Returned  to  Parliament  by  Lord  Castlereagh,  aa 

he  himself  declared,  "  to  put  an  end  to  it;" 
appointed  a  Judge  since. 
Seceded  from  his  patron,  Lord  Downshire,  and 
was  appointed  a  Judge 

*  This  gentleman  the  Author  knew  to  be  entirely  indisposed  to  a 
Union,  but  peculiar  circumstances  prevented  him  imperatively  but  hon- 
ourably from  following  his  own  impression.  The  Author  communi- 
tated  to  Mr.  George  Ponsonby  these  causes,  as  he  thought  it  but  justica 
to  Mr.  Grady,  who,  on  some  occasions,  did  not  conceal  his  sen'iraentSi 
and  acted  fairly* 

40 


69   Robert  Johnson 


470 


RISE   AND   FALL. 


-o 

71. 

•2. 
73. 

4. 

6 


77. 

78. 

79. 
60. 


John  Keane 
James  Kearny 

Henry  Kemmis . 
William  Knot 

Andrew  Knox. 
Colonel  Keatinge. 
Right  Hon.  Sir  H. 
Langrishe     . 


T  Llngray,  sen. 

T.  Lindsay,  jun. 

J.  Longfield . 
Capt  J.  Longfield 


SI.  LordLoftus. 


82.  General  Lake 


OBSERVATIONS. 

A  Renegade ;  got  a  Pension ;  See  Red  LiM 
Returned  by  Lord  Clifton  being  his  Attorney 

got  an  office. 
Son  to  the  Crown  Solicitor. 
Appointed  a  Commissioner  of  Appeals  <£800  a 

year. 


A  Commissioner  or  the  Revenue,  received 
£  15,000  cash  for  his  patronage  at  Knocto- 
pher. 

Commissioner  oi  Stamps,  paid  <£  1,500  for  hit 
patronage. 

Usher  at  the  Castle,  paid  <£  1,500  for  his  pat 
ronage. 

Created  a  Peer ;  Lord  Longueville. 

Appointed  to  the  office  of  Ship  Entries  of  Dub- 
lin taken  from  Sir  Jonah  Barrington. 

Son  to  Lord  Ely,  Postmaster  General;  got 
,£30,000  for  their  Boroughs,  and  created  an 
English  Marquis. 

An  Englishman  (no  connection  with  Ireland ;) 
returned  by  Lord  Castlereagth,  solely  to  vote 
for  the  Union. 


63. 

84. 

85. 

86. 

87. 
68. 

89. 
90. 
91. 
92. 
93. 
94. 

95. 

96. 

97 


Right.   Hon.    David 

Latouche. 
General  Loftus  .    .  A  General;  got  a  Regiment;  cousin  to  Lord 

Ely. 
Francis  M'Namara,  Cash,  and  a  private  Pension,  paid  *»y  Lord  Caa» 

tlereagh. 
Ross  Mahon  Several  appointments  and  places  by  Govern- 

ment. 
Commissioner  of  Stamps. 


A  Commissioner  of  Revenue. 
Received  ,£4,000  cash. 

Appointed  a  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  &c 
A  Postmaster  at  will. 


Richard  Martin 
Right  Hon.  Monk 

Mason  .  . 
H.  D.  Massy  . 
Thomas  Mahon. 
A  E.  M'Naghten 
Stephen  Moore . 
N.  M.  Moore. 
Right  Hon.  Lodge 

Morris     .    .       Created  a  Peer. 
Sir  R.  Musgrave      Appointed  Receiver  of  the  Customs  «£l,?.00  a 

3rear. 
James  M'Cleland     A  Barrister — appointed  Solicitor  General    and 

then  a  Baron  of  the  Exchequer. 
Col  C  M'Donnel .  Commissioner  of  Imprest  Accounts,  <£5& «  p*i 
annum 


Catholic  Standard  Publications. 


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OF  THE   IB1SH   NATION. 


471 


98 

99. 
100. 

101. 

102 
103. 

104. 

105. 
106 
107. 
108. 
109. 

110. 
111. 
112. 
113. 

114. 

115. 

116 
117. 
118 
119. 

120. 
121. 

122. 

123. 

124. 
125. 
126. 


OBSERVATIONS. 

Richard  Magenness,  Commissioner  of  Imprest  Accounts,  £500 

per  annum. 
Thomas  Nesbit        .  A  Pensioner  at  will. 
Sir  W.  G.  Newcomen,  Bought  (see  Memoir  ante,)  and  a  Peerage 


Bart. 
Richard  Neville 

William  Odell 
Charles  Osborne 

C.  M.  Ormsbj 
Adml.  Pakenham 
Col.  Pakenham 
H.  S.  Prittie 
R.  Pennefather. 
T.  Prendergast 

Sir  Richard  Quin 
Sir  Bovle  Roche 
R.  Rutledge. 
Hon.  C.  Rowley 


for  his  wife 
.  Renegaded  ;  reinstated  as  Teller  of  th« 

Exchequer. 
.  A  Regiment,  and  Lord  of  the  Treasury. 
.  A  Barrister  j  appointed  a  Judge  of  tin 

King's  Bench. 
.  Appointed  First  Council  Commissioner. 
.  Master  of  the  Ordinance 
.  A  Regiment ;  killed  at  New  Orleans. 
.  A  Peerage — Lord  Dunalley. 

.  An  office  in  the  Court  of  Chancery,  £500  a 

year ;  his  brother  Crown  Solicitor. 
.  A  Peerage. 
.  Gentleman  Usher  at  the  Castle. 


Renegaded,  and  appointed  to  office  by  Lord 
Ca^tlereagh. 

Hon.  H.Skeffington,  Clerk  of  the  Paper  Office  of  the  Castle, 
and  £7,500  for  his  patronage. 
.  ABairister.appointed a Bjmnot Exchequer 
.  Created  a  Peer ;  Lord  Mount  Sandford. 
.  Appointed  Commissioner  of  Accounts. 


William  Smith 
H.  M.  Sandford 
Edmund  Stanley 
John  Staples. 
John  Stewart 


John  Stratton 
Hon.  B.  Stratford 

Hon.  J.  Stratford 

Richard  Sharkey 

Thomas  Stannus 

J.  Savage. 

Rt.  Hon.  J.  Toler 


127    Frederick  Trench 

128.  Hon.  R.  Trench 

129.  Charles  Trench 


.  Appointed  Attorney  General,  and  created 
a  Baronet. 

.  Renegaded  to  get  £7.500.  his  half  of  the 
compensation  for  Baltinglass 

.  Paymaster  of  Foreign  Forces,  £1,300  a- 
year,  and  £7^500  for  Baltinglass. 

.  An  obscure  Barrister^  appointed  a  County 
Judge. 

.  Renegaded. 

.  Attorney  GeneraDj'his  wife, an  old  woman, 
created  a  Peeress;  himself  made  Chief 
Justice,  and  a  Peer. 

.  Appointed  a  Commissioner  of  the  Board 
of  Works. 

.  A  Barrister;  created  a  Peer,  and  made  an 
Ambassador.     See  Red  List. 

.  His  brother  ;  appointed  Commissioner  of 
InlandNavigation — a  new  office  created 
by  Lord  Cornwallis,  for  rewards. 


47* 


RISE    AND    FALL    OF    THE    IRISH    NATIONS. 


130.  Richard  Talbot. 
131    P.  Tottenham 

132.  Lord  Tyrone 


133. 
134 
135 
196 
137 
138 


Chas.  Tottenham, 

Townsend 

Robert  Tigjhe  .    , 
Robert  Uniack     , 
James  Verner  . 
J.  0.  Vandeleur 


139  Colonel  Wemyss . 

140  Henry  Wesienraw, 


OBSERVATIONS 

Compensation  for  patronage ;  cousin,  and  poiiti 

cally  connected  with  Lord  Ely. 
104  offices  in  the  gift  of  his  family;  propose! 

the  Union  in  Parliament,  by  a  speech  writtel 

in  the  crown  of  his  hat 
In  office. 
A  Commissioner. 
Commissioner  of  Barracks. 
A  Commissioner ;  connected  with  Lord  Clare. 
Called  the  Prince  of  Orange. 
Commissioner  of  the  Revenue ;  his  brother  f 

Judge. 
Collector  of  Kilkenny. 
Father  of  Lord  Rossmore,  who  if  of  Uk   *W 

reverse  of  his  father's  politics 


"»  .   ■.    •■     ,'* 

Date  Due 

LE.&"  H" 

JULI3*37 

.Hi!  ?0'37 

...  t  J  •    •  •    "■ 

AV      1    C       10 

QQ 

AY  1  5    B 

yy 

f) 

BOSTON  COLLEGE 


3  9031    01273240  0 


42786 


DEC        1983 


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